Wells Fargo Says CFPB Financial Harm Consent Order Has Closed -- Update

Published: 2025-01-28 14:01:24 ET WFC

By Owen Tucker-Smith

Wells Fargo said Tuesday that its 2022 consent order with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau relating to auto lending, consumer deposit accounts and mortgage lending has closed.

In 2022, the CFPB said it spotted violations across some of Wells Fargo's consumer product lines, leading to billions of dollars in financial harm. The agency alleged that the bank had improperly denied mortgage loan modifications, miscalculated fees, unfairly froze consumer accounts and unfairly charged overdraft fees.

"While the duration of an individual CFPB order elapsed, the agency's Repeat Offender Unit is continuing to closely scrutinize the bank," a CFPB spokesperson said.

The 2022 order stipulated that the bank align itself with consumer finance regulations and pay more than $2 billion in consumer redress as well as the highest penalty the CFPB had ever ordered, $1.7 billion.

In 2016, the CFPB fined the bank for creating millions of fraudulent bank accounts for clients without their consent. Earlier this month, three former Wells Fargo executives were fined for alleged roles in opening the fraudulent bank accounts. The bank has had to work beneath a $1.95 trillion asset cap since 2018 due to risk management and compliance issues.

Wells Fargo noted Tuesday that the 2022 order was the seventh consent order the bank's regulators had worked to close since 2019.

Write to Owen Tucker-Smith at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-28-25 1400ET