Insider Paper US officials announced Tuesday a $3.7 billion settlement with Wells Fargo over an array of “illegal activity” that burdened customers with wrongful home foreclosures and other problems.
Wells Fargo will pay $2 billion to compensate customers and $1.7 billion in civil fines under a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settlement that the agency said pertained to some 16 million consumer accounts.
Wells Fargo called the agreement an “important milestone” in the bank’s progress after a series of scandals. Shares edged higher early Tuesday in hopes that the bank could be near the end of a years-long regulatory crackdown.
A CFPB press release listed a series of problems throughout Wells Fargo’s consumer businesses, including bungled administration of auto loans that resulted in wrongful repossession of vehicles and the improper denial of mortgage modifications that led to wrongheaded foreclosures.
The bank, headquartered in San Francisco, also charged improper overdraft fees and froze consumer bank accounts based on its faulty determinations that a customer may have made a fraudulent deposit.
The CFPB penalty is the latest in a series of government fines following Wells Fargo’s infamous “fake accounts” scandal, in which the bank improperly opened millions of customer accounts without the knowledge of clients.
The fake accounts scandal gained national notoriety in 2016 and played a central role in the departures of two former Wells Fargo CEOs.
“Wells Fargo’s rinse-repeat cycle of violating the law has harmed millions of American families,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.
“The CFPB is ordering Wells Fargo to refund billions of dollars to consumers across the country. This is an important initial step for accountability and long-term reform of this repeat offender.”…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… – Insider Paper
Caravan to Midnight
We need your help to keep Caravan to Midnight going,
please consider donating to help keep independent media independent.