Wells Fargo Consistently ‘Abused’ Customers, House Dems Say

The report says Wells Fargo demonstrated a pattern of "egregiously abusing" its customers, describing its infractions:

• Opening 3.5 million fraudulent credit card and deposit accounts;
• Illegal student loan servicing practices;
• Inappropriate checking account overdraft fees;
• Unlawful mortgage lending practices, such as overcharging veterans for refinance loans; and
• Charging customers for auto insurance policies they did not need, which resulted in some customers losing their vehicles.

Prudential regulators, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., have also "failed to use their most severe tools to shut down repeat offender megabanks or otherwise hold their executives accountable," the report charges.

Effective deterrence of bad behavior "demands the use of robust enforcement tools to end unlawful practices of megabanks and their senior executives, including by revoking megabanks' charters in egregious cases," the report asserts.

If action isn't taken by prudential regulators, the Congress should enact laws to better protect consumers, the report states.