The Wells Fargo crisis deepened on Wednesday as the company said that workers had been ordered to seek the bank’s help to get workers to take care of their medical bills.
Wells Fargo’s payment to employees has grown to as much as $3 million a year, the bank said. They are supposed to be trained to spot medical bill fraud and urge their friends, family members and patients to pay them.
In a statement, the bank said it was looking into concerns that one of its healthcare services customers may have unknowingly given funds to a third party.
The bank said it had found some employees trying to access funds as a way to help colleagues pay bills and for personal reasons. Wells Fargo cut ties with the third party service provider, the bank said.
The practice emerged after new evidence emerged that Wells Fargo employees opened accounts under customers’ names to meet internal sales goals. They would then use the accounts to obtain additional credit, according to a report last month from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Wells Fargo said the practice was a result of poor customer service. Its employees, according to the report, would actually charge a co-payment of 6 percent, taking an average of $1.08 out of a customer’s account.
