Regulators say that over a five-year period some 2 million credit card and deposit accounts were opened that may not have been authorized by the bank’s customers. And though no one knows for sure, it’s almost certain that the accounts had a big impact on customers’ credit scores.

For one thing, each time a credit card is issued to a consumer, it’s noted on that person’s credit report. And that’s just the beginning of the potential problems.

“If that account had an annual fee, the consumer doesn’t know about this account, they don’t pay the annual fee,” says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “So now the consumer has these late payments showing up on their credit report and that’s pretty damaging.”

In some cases, Wells Fargo employees would transfer funds into the new accounts from one of the customer’s existing accounts. That could result in late fees or fines for insufficient funds.

Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, says that would have had a direct impact on someone’s credit score. “You may not have qualified for a mortgage or you might have been dinged by getting charged a little higher interest rate because of what was reported wrongly on your credit report,” he says.

How to use in the classroom? Link this current event to help your students connect how certain actions (not paying a bill on time, opening a new account) can impact credit scores. I wonder how many consumers saw these fake accounts (or new credit card inquiries or late fees) appear on their credit reports and wondered what was going on.