Making Things Right for Customers – Customer Redress Review Program

In September 2016, Wells Fargo entered into agreements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney to address allegations that some of our retail customers received products or services they did not request. Customers that may have had an account or service opened without their consent or without being fully informed of the details of the account or service may be eligible for remediation. Additional details regarding the remediation that Wells Fargo has provided are outlined below.

Third Party Account Analysis

In August 2017, Wells Fargo completed an expanded third-party review of retail banking accounts to identify potentially unauthorized accounts and fees and charges paid by customers related to those accounts.  The accounts and services included in the review were Wells Fargo consumer or small business checking or savings accounts, credit cards, unsecured lines of credit, and online bill pay services.

Specifically, Wells Fargo conducted a review of data associated with these accounts and services opened from January 2009 to the end of September 2016. Wells Fargo has provided refunds and credits to customers for potentially unauthorized accounts and online bill pay enrollments identified during this review for which customers paid fees and charges.

Customer Complaints and Mediation Claims

In addition, Wells Fargo has provided refunds and credits to customers of fees and charges associated with potentially unauthorized accounts and online bill pay services that were identified in response to customer complaints and mediation claims.

Class-action Settlement – Jabbari v. Wells Fargo

Customers have also received compensation under the $142 million class-action settlement for accounts dating back to 2002 if the customer submitted a claim form before the July 7, 2018 deadline or if they complained to Wells Fargo in the past about an unauthorized account.  Customers who complained to Wells Fargo about an unauthorized account during the January 1, 2011 to March 23, 2017 time period were automatically enrolled as participants in the class-action settlement.  Please consult WFSettlement.com for additional information on the settlement's status.

After plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs of administration, the class-action provided reimbursement of fees not already refunded and compensation for increased borrowing costs due to credit-score impact associated with a potentially unauthorized account. Remaining funds were distributed to the participants in the class on a per account basis.

The class-action settlement agreement covered all persons who claimed that Wells Fargo opened an unauthorized consumer or small business checking or savings account or an unsecured credit card or line of credit between May 1, 2002 and April 20, 2017. The settlement also covered customers who enrolled in certain identity theft protection services during that period (details are available online at WFSettlement.com).

Continuing Efforts

Wells Fargo continues to work with any customers who contact us with any sales practices concerns, including customers who did not participate in the remediation described above. Customers who may have had an account or service opened without their consent or without being fully informed of the details of the account or service may be eligible for compensation, correction of credit bureau information caused by the unauthorized account, and, among other things, an opportunity for no-cost mediation if the company is unable to resolve an issue related to an unauthorized account directly with the customer.

At this time, all Jabbari class-action settlement payments have been issued, the deadline to cash them has passed, and the distribution phase is complete.  However, if you are an eligible settlement class member with an uncashed payment, you may still claim your payment.  To do so, you must send a written request, either via email to info@wfsettlement.com, or via U.S. Mail to: Wells Fargo Unauthorized Accounts Settlement, P.O. Box 2594, Faribault, MN 55021-9594.

If you have additional questions about the Jabbari class-action settlement, please consult WFSettlement.com. The settlement administrator also provides some recorded information concerning the settlement at 1-866-431-8549. If you have questions about other potentially unauthorized accounts or services not already addressed in your Jabbari settlement claim, we encourage you to contact our Customer Care Team at 1-844-931-2273.

In the past, Wells Fargo’s team members referred customers to third-party insurance companies for renters and simplified term life insurance products.  Following an internal review, Wells Fargo identified renters and simplified term life insurance policies opened with third-party insurance companies that may have been referred by our team members without the customer’s consent or solely for purposes of helping a Wells Fargo team member obtain incentive compensation. The policies were opened with American Modern Home Insurance Group, Inc., Assurant, Inc., Great West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Pruco Life Insurance Company, and Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey. Wells Fargo stopped referring customers to third-party insurance companies for renters and simplified term life insurance products in December 2016.

Wells Fargo has paid refunds of premiums and bank fees to eligible customers with applicable renters and simplified term life insurance policies, among other potential compensation. We have provided remediation to eligible customers with policies opened between December 3, 2008 and November 30, 2016. Wells Fargo has worked to identify and provide remediation to all customers who may have been affected. Eligible customers should have received this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.

If you have any questions about a notice or refund check you received or have not heard from Wells Fargo and believe you may be eligible for compensation related to a renters or simplified term life insurance referral, we encourage you to contact our Customer Care Team at 1-800-255-2338.

Customers’ auto loan contracts required them to maintain comprehensive and collision physical damage insurance throughout the term of their loan. As commonly permitted under those contracts, Wells Fargo Dealer Services (“Dealer Services”) and Wells Fargo Auto Finance (“Auto Finance”), which were previously separate auto lending business units at Wells Fargo (both are now part of the "Wells Fargo Auto" business unit), would purchase CPI from an insurance company on the customer’s behalf if our vendor was unable to confirm — from either the customer or an insurance company — that the customer already had the required insurance.  As of September 30, 2016, Wells Fargo stopped placing CPI.

Wells Fargo identified issues related to the CPI policies placed for Dealer Services and Auto Finance customers who had the necessary physical damage insurance for the entire time or for a portion of the CPI policy period, which we refer to as “duplicative CPI” coverage.

Wells Fargo has worked to identify and provide remediation to all customers who may have been affected. Specifically, eligible Dealer Services customers for whom we have records indicating duplicative CPI was placed between May 17, 2005 and September 30, 2016, and eligible Auto Finance customers for whom we have records indicating duplicative CPI was placed between February 2, 2006 and November 14, 2011, automatically received any compensation due to them under our remediation plan.  This may have included a refund of duplicative CPI interest and/or CPI premium charges, to the extent not previously refunded.  It may also have included a refund of fees (such as late fees) assessed to the customer’s account during the time when duplicative CPI may have caused the fee to be assessed, among other potential compensation. Eligible customers should have received this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.

Also, all Dealer Services and Auto Finance customers who had CPI policies placed in five states within defined time periods, whether those policies were duplicative or not, received a full refund of CPI premium and interest, to the extent not already refunded, among other potential compensation.  The customers eligible for this compensation had a CPI policy placed in Arkansas between July 30, 2012 and September 30, 2016; in Michigan between July 30, 2011 and September 30, 2016; in Mississippi between July 30, 2014 and September 30, 2016; in Tennessee between July 30, 2011 and September 30, 2016; or in Washington between July 30, 2011 and September 30, 2016. Again, eligible customers should have received this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.

In addition, eligible Dealer Services and Auto Finance customers who experienced a repossession or charge-off that may have been caused by duplicative CPI or a CPI policy placed within one of the five states in the timeframes referenced above received additional compensation and/or account credits under our remediation plan.  Where we determined that a repossession was caused by duplicative CPI, in accordance with our remediation plan, the customer received a monetary reimbursement for estimated out-of-pocket transportation and non-transportation expenses, a refund or credit for repossession costs assessed to the account, and in some cases a payment for the customer’s lost equity in the vehicle, among other potential compensation.  These customers also received the compensation outlined above for duplicative CPI. Again, eligible customers should have received this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.

For each of these categories, Wells Fargo also worked with the credit bureaus to correct customers’ credit records, if applicable.

Finally, certain Dealer Services and Auto Finance customers who had CPI placed and where our records reflect the customer needed the CPI for all or some of the coverage period should have received a letter asking them to provide more information if the customer in fact had their own separate physical damage insurance overlapping with the CPI policy.

Wells Fargo has worked to identify and provide remediation to all customers who may have been affected. If you have any questions about a notice or refund check you received or have not heard from Wells Fargo and believe you may be eligible for compensation related to CPI, we encourage you to contact our CPI Customer Care Team at 1-888-228-9735.

GAP is an optional product offered by automobile dealerships to customers at the time they purchase a vehicle. GAP products offer customers additional protection beyond a standard automobile insurance policy in the event that their vehicle suffers a total loss (for example, if the vehicle is in an accident or is stolen).  When this happens, GAP may help pay off the loan balance not covered by the customer’s primary auto insurance. GAP may be purchased in full or financed as part of the motor vehicle financing agreement with the dealership.

Wells Fargo Auto (“WF Auto”) customers who pay off their financing agreement early or whose vehicle is repossessed may be eligible for a refund of any unearned portion of the amount they paid for GAP.  In the states identified below, state law requires indirect auto lenders such as WF Auto to ensure that a refund is issued. Wells Fargo determined that some customers whose loans originated in the following states may not have received a refund, and Wells Fargo provided remediation to these customers: Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin. In addition, Nebraska has a different type of legal requirement applicable to notices that indirect auto lenders must send in certain circumstances following the early payoff of auto loans where a customer has purchased GAP insurance, and thus some customers in Nebraska were included in the remediation.

Wells Fargo has worked to identify and provide this remediation to all customers who may have been affected. Eligible customers are not required to take any action to receive this remediation and should have received notices and remediation automatically.

If you have any questions that are not addressed above, we encourage you to reach out to us.

Wells Fargo offers prospective borrowers the ability to lock in an agreed upon interest rate for a period while their mortgage loan application is pending. Historically, depending on the circumstances, if a residential mortgage loan did not close during the defined rate lock period, Wells Fargo may have charged the customer a fee to extend the rate lock period.

On October 4, 2017, Wells Fargo announced that after an internal review, we determined that our mortgage rate lock extension fee policy was, at times, inconsistently applied during the period of September 16, 2013 through February 28, 2017. As a result, some borrowers were charged fees for rate lock extensions when Wells Fargo was primarily responsible for the delays that caused the need for the extensions.

Wells Fargo reached out to all home lending customers who paid rate lock extension fees for extensions requested between September 16, 2013 and February 28, 2017. While we believe many of the rate lock extension fees during the period in question were appropriately charged under our policy, Wells Fargo offered refunds (plus interest) to all customers who paid rate lock extension fees for extensions requested during this time frame.

If you have any questions about a notice or refund check you received or have not heard from Wells Fargo and believe you may be eligible for compensation related to a mortgage interest rate lock extension fee, we encourage you to contact our Rate Lock Customer Care Team at 1-866-385-5008.

We want to ensure that you only experience the very best customer service from us. If you have any questions that are not addressed above, please visit us in one of our branches or call our 24/7 toll-free number at 1-800-TO-WELLS (1-800-869-3557).