CFPB Orders Wells Fargo to Pay $3.7 Billion for Widespread Mismanagement of Auto Loans, Mortgages, and Deposit Accounts

 Why would anyone continue to do business with Wells Fargo? They have a LONG history of abusing consumers! The highest level of management has repeatedly forced their employees to take advantage of consumers resulting in appalling situations... repeatedly... time and time again.

If you are a Wells Fargo customer, the #1 item on your to-do list is to find a financial institution that will treat you as a valued customer rather than a schmuck to take advantage of. Most consumers can join a Credit Union which is consumer owned rather than a bank that is beholden to stockholders.

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is ordering Wells Fargo Bank to pay more than $2 billion in redress to consumers and a $1.7 billion civil penalty for legal violations across several of its largest product lines. The bank’s illegal conduct led to billions of dollars in financial harm to its customers and, for thousands of customers, the loss of their vehicles and homes."

"Consumers were illegally assessed fees and interest charges on auto and mortgage loans, had their cars wrongly repossessed, and had payments to auto and mortgage loans misapplied by the bank. Wells Fargo also charged consumers unlawful surprise overdraft fees and applied other incorrect charges to checking and savings accounts. Under the terms of the order, Wells Fargo will pay redress to the over 16 million affected consumer accounts, and pay a $1.7 billion fine, which will go to the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund, where it will be used to provide relief to victims of consumer financial law violations."

Pay attention to the REAL news, not Tik Tok or Facebook or YouTube. Check out this story from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/20/1144495984/wells-fargo-to-pay-3-7-billion-over-mistreatment-of-its-customers

More Bad News About Wells Fargo

As reported in The Wall Street Journal (5/10/18, p. B1): "Wells Fargo & Co. has acknowledged that it pocketed fee rebates that should have been passed on to a public pension fund in Tennessee while acting as its trustee...."

Wow! What hasn't this bank done to screw its consumer and corporate customers? Drop this bank like a hot potato. Find a credit union that will treat you right. Need I say more?

Advantages of Credit Unions over Banks

Wells Fargo Bank has certainly captured the headlines over the past couple years with its egregious treatment of its customers. To those customers who are still banking with Wells Fargo or other bank customers who are frustrated with poor service, low interest on savings and high interest on loans, it's time to check out your local credit union.
The three main advantages of credit unions over banks are:
1. putting their customers, not their stockholders, first.
2. higher interest rates on savings and lower rates on loans.
3. more personal and flexible customer service. 
Get more details from the Squared Away Blog: http://squaredawayblog.bc.edu/squared-away/credit-unions-a-popular-antidote-to-fraud/

Time to leave Wells Fargo after one more scandal

It is LONG past time for consumers to leave Wells Fargo Bank after one more revelation of customer mistreatment to enhance the bottom line. This time the bank has admitted charging  570,000 of its customers for auto insurance that duplicated coverage they were already paying for, causing financial strain that resulted in many to lose their vehicles. The bank is offering an apology and refunds of overcharges but this is little comfort to people who lost their vehicles and had their credit rating damaged by Wells        Fargo executives lining their own pockets.
This latest scandal of consumer abuse comes on top of last year's sales scandal where bank employees were coerced into opening 2.1 million accounts using ficticious info or unauthorized customer info, according to Emily Glazer in The Wall Street Journal (7/29-30/17). Also reported by The New York Times. The insurance Wells Fargo forced on its customers was more expensive than the coverage the vehicle owners already had paid for on their own policies.
Wells Fargo customers need to wake up and leave their bank for another bank or a credit union!

More reason to ditch Wells Fargo bank

Today (12/13/16) The Wall Street Journal reported that "U.S. regulators slapped Wells Fargo with new regulatory sanctions, saying the firm failed to address alleged 'deficiencies' in a plan to manage its own bankruptcy without a taxpayer bailout." It appears that the executives running the bank are pretty clueless as reporters Tracy and Glazer wrote: the rebuke was "another black eye for a bank that is still reeling from a scandal over its creation of bogus customer accounts. Even more stinging: the news was akin to failing a make-up test as the San Francisco bank had failed an initial test in April."
Consumers have so many choices for where to get banking services; why would anyone stick with Wells Fargo after the way it has mistreated its customers AND low-paid employees who were forced to implement the egregious policies. Further, the bank has fired many of those employees when the top decision makers should be the ones losing their jobs, pensions, and termination perks.
Consumers: check out a credit union near you!

Dump Wells Fargo!

If you bank with Wells Fargo it's time to dump that scandal-plagued institution and find another bank, or better yet, a credit union. Why would any consumer continue doing business with a bank that defrauds its customers? The scandal has been front page news in The Wall Street Journal for the past week. Bank policies resulted in high pressure on low-paid employees to con customers into buying additional bank products they didn't really want and even making up fictitious customer accounts to make it appear as if the bank were growing.  It's really sad the CEO John Stumpf is collecting an outrageous salary while the bank has now fired the low-paid employees that were subject to pressure to produce or lose their jobs!
I know from experience that it is a time-consuming process to change financial institutions, especially when you have automatic deposits and payments but it is absurd to give this bank your business now that it's egregious policies (toward both customers and low-level employees) is public.
"Cross-selling," encouraging customers to buy other bank products, is common in the industry but WF took the practice to fraudulent extremes and now is punishing their employees who had no choice. The head of the unit that perpetrated this practice got a $125 million payout and is being allowed to retire with full benefits! The fired employees are out of a job for doing what their bosses insisted they do!
Almost everyone qualifies to join a credit union, financial institutions that are member-owned rather than stock holder-owned. Virtually every research study that has compared banks and credit unions on interest rates paid on savings and rates charged for loans has concluded that consumers are better off with a credit union than a bank.
Sometimes consumers feel helpless to bring about change. But this one is simple. DUMP WELLS FARGO! There are lots of much better options! If you stay with this bank you are voting for more of the same egregious behavior!
Read the Washington Post editorial (9/22/16): "Accountability at Wells Fargo" at the Salt Lake Tribune's website: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4384134-155/washington-post-editorial-accountability-at-wells
and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank's opinion: "Wells Fargo: Too big to fail, too arrogant to admit it" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wells-fargo-too-big-to-fail-too-arrogant-to-admit-it/2016/09/20/5c7ee1fe-7f6e-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html

Getting the Most From a Bank Account

FDIC Consumer Newsletter Features Tips on Getting the Most From a Bank Account.

Other topics include managing a mortgage and adding others to accounts.            

It’s important to have a banking product to handle everyday financial needs that range from making payments to getting paid. However, with the many different choices available, consumers can use a little help understanding how to select the most cost-effective options. The Summer 2012 issue of FDIC Consumer News features tips on how to choose and effectively use a bank account for routine financial needs. Also in this issue are practical suggestions for navigating the mortgage process -- from before a consumer buys a home through the final loan payment -- and a look at potential risks when adding other people to a deposit or loan account. The latest issue can be read or printed online at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnsum12