Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, along with solo practitioner Lainey Feingold, represent the California Council for the Blind, other affiliates of the American Council of the Blind, and several individuals with visual impairments in structured negotiations with many of the nation’s largest banking institutions. In the past several years, we have negotiated separate agreements with Bank of America, Bank One/Chase/Washington Mutual, Citibank, First Union (Wachovia), and Wells Fargo to guarantee that persons with visual impairments have access to basic banking services that the sighted world takes for granted.
The Wells Fargo settlement agreement requires the bank to install “talking ATMs” that provide audible instructions for completing all essential banking transactions, including withdrawals, deposits, transfers between accounts, and stamp purchases from customers’ checking, savings, and market rate accounts. There are thousands of Wells Fargo talking ATMs installed across the United States. The Wells Fargo settlement agreement also requires the bank to provide alternative formats (including Braille, Large Print, audio and/or electronic formats) for printed banking materials at no extra cost to its customers with visual impairments.