Wells Fargo to Pay $1B for Forcing Insurance on People

And for missteps in its mortgage division
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 20, 2018 8:42 AM CDT
Wells Fargo to Pay $1B for Forcing Insurance on People
This Aug. 11, 2017, file photo shows a sign at a Wells Fargo bank location in Philadelphia.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

A Thursday rumor turned into Friday truth: Wells Fargo will pay $1 billion to settle allegations from federal regulators for abuses tied to its mortgage and auto lending businesses. It will pay $500 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, its main bank regulator, as well as $500 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is the first fine that Mick Mulvaney, appointed as acting director of the CFPB by President Trump, has imposed since he took over the bureau in late November, reports the AP. CNBC reports the bank will book $800 million of it in the first quarter, reducing that quarter's profit to $4.7 billion.

The CFPB on Friday detailed the violations, which involved forcing unneeded auto insurance onto thousands of customers and the way in which it charged some borrowers for mortgage interest rate lock products. Wells Fargo was fined $100 million by the CFPB in September 2016 after its employees opened as many as 3.5 million bank and credit card accounts without getting customers' authorization. The bank has been under investigation for other practices since then.
(More Wells Fargo stories.)

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