Wells Fargo will pay $3.7 billion in penalties resulting from alleged illegal practices that caused thousands of the bank’s customers to lose their homes and vehicles, federal regulators have announced. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the bank to pay $2 billion in consumer redress and a $1.7-billion civil penalty, which is the largest fine the CFPB has ever levied against a single financial institution.
The Government says Wells Fargo customers had their vehicles wrongly possessed, were illegally charged erroneous fees and interest charges on auto and home loans and were also charged “unlawful” overdraft fees. More than 16 million consumer accounts were affected, the agency says.
Wells Fargo admitted previously to creating millions of fraudulent accounts for customers without their consent which resulted in Government actions and major fines.
Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer representing individuals in the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs and who also handles False Claims Acts cases involving kickbacks and healthcare fraud. He can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217
