| Volume 127 Number 4 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Need something to read? Consider my book, the 8th edition of “Know Your Rights! Answers to Texas Everyday Legal Questions. “ It is available at your local bookstore, or through my website. Click here for more.
Wells Fargo Fined for Fraudulently Creating Customer Accounts
Yesterday, federal regulators announced that Wells Fargo has been fined $185 million for opening fake customer accounts. "Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses," Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement. The fake accounts earned the bank unauthorized fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to increase their sales. Employees moved funds from customers' existing accounts into newly-created ones without their knowledge or consent, regulators say. Customers would then be charged for insufficient funds or overdraft fees. Wells Fargo employees also submitted applications for 565,443 credit card accounts without their customers' knowledge or consent. Wells Fargo confirmed that 5,3000 employees have been fired in the last few years for participating in this scheme. Click here for more.
Your Money
Saving a million dollars for retirement is not out of the question as long as you start saving early. Yet many start saving at age 32, not at 25 when small savings make $1 million more attainable. According to one bank's comparison if a 25-year-old earning $32,000 a year puts 5 percent of his or her pay in a 401(k) at work or an IRA that year, and then increases the amount 2 percent each year with raises for five years, there will be roughly $1 million for retirement at age 65. But a person who doesn't start saving anything until earning about $36,700 at age 32 falls far short. Even if you follow the same plan used by the 25-year-old, you end up with roughly $692,000 at age 65 instead of the $1 million. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Arbitration clause requiring arbitration at Cheyenne River Sioux is unenforceable. The Eleventh Circuit held that an arbitration agreement’s forum selection clause mandating the use of an illusory and unavailable arbitral forum rendered the clause unenforceable. Because neither party disputed that the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe( CRST) forum was unavailable, the court agreed with the district court that it cannot enforce the delegation clause or the underlying arbitration agreement. Parm v. National Bank of CA (11th Cir. 2016). Click here for more.