Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2022
CFPB consumer-account, mortgage, and auto-loan abuses
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a broad resolution addressing alleged unlawful or improper practices involving deposit accounts, auto loans, mortgages, and other consumer products. The order included customer compensation and a civil penalty.
2022
Disparate mortgage-refinancing outcomes reported
Reporting based on mortgage-application data examined Wells Fargo's refinancing decisions involving Black applicants and raised concerns about racial disparities in approval outcomes. The issue added to scrutiny of the bank's fair-lending and mortgage practices.
2021
Foreign-exchange customer fraud allegations
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a resolution involving allegations that Wells Fargo had engaged in fraudulent conduct in foreign-exchange transactions with customers.
2021
OCC orders Wells Fargo to pay $250 million penalty
Fine or penalty
In a regulatory action concerning Wells Fargo's home lending unit, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered the bank to pay a $250 million penalty. The penalty was connected to problems in the home lending unit and to violations of a 2018 consent order. Alongside the penalty, the OCC imposed new restrictions on the bank's mortgage business practices. The action addressed unsafe or unsound home lending practices, according to the source account of the event.
Regulators ordered Wells Fargo to pay a $250 million penalty in connection with problems in its home lending unit and violations of a 2018 consent order. The OCC also imposed new restrictions on the bank’s mortgage business practices.
Company response
Clarification — Wells Fargo
“Though the OCC’s issuance of new orders is disappointing,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said in a memo to the bank's employees, “our risk and control-related work spans multiple areas, and we should not lose sight of the progress we are making.”
Source excerpt
The OCC's order requires the bank to take broad and comprehensive corrective actions to improve the execution, risk management, and oversight of the bank's loss mitigation program.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also placed new restrictions on business practices in the scandal-plagued bank’s mortgage division.
Wells Fargo has been fined $250 million by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or OCC for unsafe or unsound practices related to deficiencies in the bank's home lending loss mitigation program and violations of the 2018 Compliance Consent Order.
2021
FINRA fines Wells Fargo firms for record-keeping violations
Fine or penalty
FINRA censured Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network and fined them $2.25 million for violating books-and-records retention requirements.
Source excerpt
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has censured Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, and fined them $2.25 million for violating several books-and-records retention requirements.
Two Wells Fargo broker-dealers agreed to jointly pay a $2.25 million fine to settle charges levied by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regarding a failure to store approximately 13 million customer records in the proper format over a 17-year span.
2020
Wells Fargo sales-scandal settlement
Settlement
Wells Fargo entered into a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a scandal involving fake account openings. The source does not state that the settlement was completed. This entry records the agreement as reported and does not add further details beyond the event and the source quote.
Stated objective. Settle the fake account openings scandal
Source excerpt
Wells Fargo & Company WFC has entered into a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in order to settle a fake account openings scandal that proved to be a major setback for the company since its breakout.
2020
Wells Fargo reaches $3 billion settlement resolving fake-accounts investigations
Fine or penalty
Wells Fargo reached a $3 billion settlement with federal authorities to resolve criminal and civil liabilities related to its fake-accounts scandal. As part of the settlement, the bank admitted that it falsified bank records, harmed customers' credit ratings, misused personal information, and wrongfully collected fees and interest between 2002 and 2016. The settlement addressed investigations into the bank's practices during that period.
Federal authorities fined Wells Fargo $3 billion in a settlement resolving criminal and civil liabilities related to its fake-accounts scandal. Wells Fargo admitted that it falsified bank records, harmed customers' credit ratings, misused personal information, and wrongfully collected fees and interest between 2002 and 2016.
Source excerpt
Wells Fargo was hit with a $3 billion fine Friday by federal authorities outraged by the millions of fake accounts created at the troubled bank over many years.
The settlement with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission, years in the making, resolves Wells Fargo's criminal and civil liabilities for the fake-accounts scandal that erupted nearly four years ago.
As part of the deal, Wells Fargo admitted that between 2002 and 2016, it falsified bank records, harmed the credit ratings of customers, unlawfully misused their personal information and wrongfully collected millions of dollars in fees and interest.
2020
Wells Fargo reaches $3 billion settlement over fake-accounts scandal
Settlement
Wells Fargo reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission resolving criminal and civil liabilities related to its fake-accounts scandal. The agreement included a $3 billion fine. As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo admitted that it falsified bank records, harmed customers' credit ratings, unlawfully misused personal information, and wrongfully collected fees and interest.
Wells Fargo reached a settlement with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission resolving criminal and civil liabilities related to its fake-accounts scandal. The agreement included a $3 billion fine, and Wells Fargo admitted that it falsified bank records, harmed customers' credit ratings, unlawfully misused personal information, and wrongfully collected fees and interest.
Source excerpt
The settlement with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission, years in the making, resolves Wells Fargo's criminal and civil liabilities for the fake-accounts scandal that erupted nearly four years ago.
As part of the deal, Wells Fargo admitted that between 2002 and 2016, it falsified bank records, harmed the credit ratings of customers, unlawfully misused their personal information and wrongfully collected millions of dollars in fees and interest.
Wells Fargo was hit with a $3 billion fine Friday by federal authorities outraged by the millions of fake accounts created at the troubled bank over many years.
2020
Borrowers sue Wells Fargo over forbearance policy
Lawsuit filed
Borrowers filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Wells Fargo placed mortgages into forbearance without borrowers' explicit permission, allegedly damaging their credit reports. Wells Fargo said it had notified affected customers how to remove themselves from forbearance and apologized to customers who received it without expressly requesting it.
Company response
Apology — Wells Fargo
“We sincerely apologize to any customer who received a forbearance and did not expressly request one, and are actively working to assist each customer who may have been negatively affected,”
Source excerpt
In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, borrower Pamela Delpara claimed that Wells Fargo put customers’ mortgages into forbearance regardless of whether that was actually requested, Law360 reported.
That allegedly resulted in damage to borrowers’ credit reports.
The allegations in the complaint have not been tested, and no court has made any findings or rulings on the merits.
2020
Wells Fargo faces backlash over CEO's remarks on Black talent
Public backlash
Wells Fargo faced employee and public criticism after CEO Charlie Scharf's remark that there was a "very limited pool of black talent to recruit from" was reported. Scharf apologized in a company-wide memo, calling it an insensitive comment reflecting his own unconscious bias.
Company response
Apology — Wells Fargo
I apologize for making an insensitive comment reflecting my own unconscious bias
Source excerpt
A Wells Fargo spokesperson referred Business Insider to a statement Scharf made on Wednesday in a company-wide memo that was also posted to the bank's website: "I apologize for making an insensitive comment reflecting my own unconscious bias," Scharf said.
The report also detailed a negative internal response from some employees. "While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from," Scharf said in the June memo, seen by Reuters and confirmed by Wells Fargo. Lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both known for critical views of the financial-services industry, lambasted his remarks.
2020
Wells Fargo CEO apologizes over diversity remarks
Company response
In September 2020, Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf apologized after making an insensitive comment about a shortage of qualified minority candidates. The remarks had drawn criticism, and Scharf issued the apology in response. The event centered on the CEO's comment regarding the availability of qualified minority candidates and the subsequent criticism it attracted.
Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf apologized for an insensitive comment about a shortage of qualified minority candidates after his remarks drew criticism.
Company response
Apology — Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Co Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf apologized on Wednesday for “making an insensitive comment reflecting my own unconscious bias,”
Source excerpt
Scharf’s earlier remarks were widely criticized after the Reuters report was published on Tuesday.
The comments and similar statements made in a Zoom meeting, reported by Reuters, led to an intense backlash in Washington and on social media.
Wells Fargo & Co Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf apologized on Wednesday for “making an insensitive comment reflecting my own unconscious bias,” as the bank sought to quell a row over his references to a shortage of talent among minority groups.
2020
SEC imposes $35 million penalty on Wells Fargo over investment advice
Fine or penalty
The SEC said Wells Fargo will pay a $35 million fine for recommending risky single-inverse ETFs to some clients, including seniors and retirees; the SEC said some clients had moderate or conservative risk tolerances and little or no relevant investing experience.
Company response
Remediation — Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo said in a statement that it will no longer sell "single-inverse ETFs" in its "full-service brokerage" but that customers could still buy them from other providers.
Source excerpt
The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Wells Fargo to pay a $35 million fine for selling complex exchange-traded funds that were unsuitable for the retirement savers who bought them, the agency announced Thursday.
Wells Fargo neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s charges.
Wells Fargo will pay a $35 million fine for improperly recommending risky investments to some of its clients, including senior citizens and retirees, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.
2019
Auto-loan collateral-protection insurance controversy
Wells Fargo agreed to settle allegations that millions of auto-loan customers had been charged for collateral-protection insurance they did not need or should not have received.
2018
Federal Reserve governance and risk-management enforcement action
The Federal Reserve restricted Wells Fargo's asset growth until the company improved governance, risk management, and internal controls. The action was a direct institutional consequence of the company's consumer-abuse and compliance failures.
2016
Unauthorized customer-accounts scandal
Aggressive sales targets and incentive structures led employees to open deposit accounts and credit cards without customer authorization. The scandal resulted in regulatory penalties, mass employee dismissals, executive departures, customer remediation, congressional scrutiny, and the Federal Reserve's later asset-growth restriction.
2016
Improper FHA mortgage underwriting allegations
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $1.2 billion settlement resolving allegations that Wells Fargo improperly underwrote more than 100,000 FHA-backed loans and submitted ineligible loans for government insurance.
2012
Mortgage-backed securities disclosure settlement
Wells Fargo agreed to pay approximately $6.5 million to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it had sold risky mortgage-backed securities without fully disclosing their risks.
2012
National Mortgage Settlement
Wells Fargo participated in the federal and state settlement concerning foreclosure and mortgage-servicing practices during the housing crisis. Its obligations included homeowner relief and government payments.
1981
MAPS embezzlement scandal
A Wells Fargo operations officer at the Beverly Drive branch used fraudulent debit and credit receipts to divert more than $300,000 to promoters associated with Muhammad Ali Professional Sports. The employee pleaded guilty to embezzlement and conspiracy charges and testified against co-conspirators.