Wells Fargo Begins Compensating Customers Affected By Fraud
Wells Fargo’s program to compensate customers affected by the bank’s violation of consumer protection laws has begun, the Texas Attorney General’s office said.
Texas customers, as well as customers around the country, who were affected by the bank’s practice between 2009 and 2016 of opening millions of unauthorized bank accounts in the names of unknowing customers, are able to call helplines to have their claims reviewed.
The program is part of a $575 million settlement with every state in the U.S. Texas will receive $47 million of the settlement to resolve civil claims that the bank committed unfair and deceptive trade practices, the Office of the Texas Attorney General said.
Customers should call the following phone numbers or go online to have their complaint reviewed for relief, which could include compensation.
Unauthorized accounts: Customers who may have had an account or service opened without their consent should contact Unauthorized Accounts and Improper Retail Sales Practices at 1-844-931-2273. More information is available on the bank’s website.
Renters and Life Insurance: Customers who may have had a renters or simplified term life insurance policy opened by Wells Fargo without their consent or solely for purposes of helping the employee obtain incentive pay should contact Improper Renters and Life Insurance Referrals at 1-855-853-9638. More information is available on the bank’s website.
Auto Insurance: Customers who had an auto loan contract with Wells Fargo and were charged for collateral protection insurance should contact Force-Placed Collateral Protection Auto Insurance (“CPI”) at 1-888-228-9735. More information is available on the bank’s website.
GAP product on auto loan: Customers who had a Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection product on their auto loan contract with Wells Fargo, and who paid off their auto loan contract early or had their vehicle repossessed, should contact Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection (“GAP”) Refunds at 1-844-860-6962. More information is available on the bank’s website.
Mortgage loans: Customers applying for a mortgage loan with Wells Fargo who paid a fee for a rate lock extension requested between September 16, 2013 and February 28, 2017 should contact the Mortgage Interest Rate Lock Remediation Program at 1-866-385-5008. More information is available on the bank’s website.
The settlement puts an end to federal investigations into Wells Fargo — one of the largest banks in the United States with nearly $2 trillion in assets. It was found to have opened as many as 3.5 million bank accounts, transferred funds, filed credit card applications and issued debit cards without customers’ knowledge or permission. The bank said it found 528,000 unauthorized online bill pay enrollments.
Wells Fargo also improperly referred customers to enroll in third-party renters and life insurance policies, charged auto loan customers for insurance they did not need, failed to ensure that customers received refunds of unearned premiums on certain auto finance products and incorrectly charged customers for mortgage rate-lock extension fees.
The scandal, which first broke in September of 2016, led to the departure of the CEO John Stumpf, multiple regulatory probes and lawsuits, and the firing of 5,300 workers over several years for creating the fake accounts. The bank has since stopped using the sales goals that had incentivized employees to create fake accounts.
The bank will provide periodic reports to Texas and the other states about ongoing remediation efforts, the Texas Office of the Attorney General said.
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