Bank of America has reached a deal to resolve claims that it opened thousands of unauthorized accounts, according to a notice filed in federal court Monday.
The bank reached a “settlement in principle” of class-action claims, originally filed in 2023, that allege its employees and agents knowingly opened accounts in the name of unknowing individuals, “motivated by pressure and incentives from management” to grow account numbers, according to a June amended complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
Plaintiffs allege that employees at BofA began creating fake accounts in 2012 to hit sales goals, based on an incentive program created that year which tied pay for its management and employees to the number of new banking products or services opened or used by consumers.
But consumers who had accounts opened in their names “were often unaware of account openings until reviewing credit reports,” the amended complaint said.
“Opening accounts has an impact on consumers, affecting their credit reports, imposing fees, and raising legitimate concerns about the safety of the personal information Bank of America is supposed to protect,” the complaint said.
The settlement agreement has not yet been finalized. Charlotte, North Carolina-based BofA and the case’s plaintiffs have requested a stay on all remaining deadlines “to allow the Parties to focus on finalizing the proposed settlement,” the Monday court filing said. They have requested that the court set a Jan. 11 deadline for plaintiffs to move for preliminary approval.
A BofA spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some plaintiffs, including Andrew Beal of Layton, Utah, have never been BofA customers, according to the lawsuit. In or around October 2022, the bank obtained Beal’s credit report from Experian, and he was notified of a credit card registered in his name the following year.
Beal “suffered significant harm,” according to the complaint, including unwarranted credit card fees, damage to his credit score, and the expenditure of time and resources monitoring for credit issues and fraudulent activity such as identity theft.
The original lawsuit was filed in July 2023, days after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the bank $250 million over issues including unauthorized credit card accounts.
“In those cases, Bank of America illegally used or obtained consumers’ credit reports, without their permission, to complete applications,” the CFPB said at the time. “Because of Bank of America’s actions, consumers were charged unjustified fees, suffered negative effects to their credit profiles, and had to spend time correcting errors.”
The charges echoed those levied against Wells Fargo in 2016 amid a similar fake-accounts scandal that landed the bank in regulatory hot water and prompted an asset cap that was lifted last year.
In 2024, BofA sought to dismiss the case based on a theory that unauthorized accounts were opened by third-party fraudsters rather than bank employees. A judge rejected that theory in 2025.
“Defendants’ premise that Plaintiffs avoided pleading third-party liability presupposes the existence of facts not in the complaint — that third-party identity thieves opened the unauthorized accounts instead of BoA employees,” District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. wrote.
