Customer Redress Review Program related to Wells Fargo’s Retail Sales Practices, Renters and Simplified Term Life Insurance Referrals, Collateral Protection Insurance, Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection & Mortgage Interest Rate Lock.
As part of our ongoing efforts to build a better bank, we are looking across our entire company to identify and fix problems, be transparent and open about what we find, and make things right. In December 2018, we announced that we reached an agreement with all 50 state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia regarding previously disclosed retail sales practices, auto collateral protection insurance (“CPI”) and Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection (“GAP”), and mortgage interest rate lock matters. We are in the process of providing remediation to customers related to all of these issues and understand that customers may have questions about what happened, the remediation plans, and the notices and remediation they receive. This website has been designed to answer your questions and to provide you with contact information for customer care teams that can assist you with any additional questions you may have about the following issues:
- Retail Sales Practices Remediation Program: 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. Please select this link for more information and the contact information for our designated Customer Care Team.
- Renters and Simplified Term Life Insurance Referrals Remediation Program: 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 a Wells Fargo team member obtain incentive pay may be eligible for compensation. Please select this link for more information and the contact information for our designated Customer Care Team.
- Collateral Protection Insurance (“CPI”) Remediation Program: Customers who have had an auto loan contract with Wells Fargo and were charged for collateral protection insurance may be eligible for compensation. Please select this link for more information and the contact information for our designated Customer Care Team.
- Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection (“GAP”) Remediation Program: Customers who had a GAP product on their auto loan contract with Wells Fargo and paid off their auto loan contract early or had their vehicle repossessed may be eligible for a refund of any unearned portion of the amount they paid for GAP. Please select this link for more information and the contact information for our designated Customer Care Team.
- Mortgage Interest Rate Lock Remediation Program: 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 may be eligible for compensation. Please select this link for more information and the contact information for our designated Customer Care Team.
If you have any questions about any remediation you have received or your eligibility for future remediation regarding the issues covered by the settlement agreement, we encourage you to contact the responsible Wells Fargo Customer Care Team. Contact information for the Customer Care Teams is provided below.
The December 2018 agreement with the Attorneys General includes a redress program. What is that?
Wells Fargo has designated customer care teams who have been specially trained to help customers with the issues covered by the agreement – sales practices (including retail sales practices and sales practices related to renters and simplified term life insurance referrals), auto CPI and GAP, and mortgage interest rate lock matters. The redress program means we’ll keep these teams in place and maintain this website in order to help answer customer questions for at least one year after the satisfaction of the remediation programs discussed below.
What is the Retail Sales Practices Remediation 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 in the past or is in the process of providing is 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 may also receive compensation under the $142 million class-action settlement for accounts dating back to 2002 if the customer submitted a claims 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 the status of settlement payments.
After plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs of administration, the class-action settlement will provide 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 will be distributed to the participants in the class on a per account basis.
The class-action settlement agreement covered all persons who claim that Wells Fargo opened an unauthorized consumer or small business checking or savings account or an unsecured credit card or line of credit. The settlement also covers customers who enrolled in certain identity theft protection services between May 1, 2002 and April 20, 2017 (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.
If you have any questions about your Jabbari class-action settlement claim, please contact the settlement administrator at 1-866-431-8549 or consult WFSettlement.com. 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.
What is the Renters and Simplified Term Life Insurance Referrals Remediation Program?
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 will receive 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.
What is the Collateral Protection Insurance (“CPI”) Remediation Program?
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”) 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 has identified issues related to the CPI policies placed for Dealer Services 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.
Eligible Dealer Services customers for whom we have records indicating duplicative CPI was placed between October 15, 2005 and September 30, 2016 will automatically receive any compensation due to them under our remediation plan. This may include a refund of duplicative CPI interest and/or CPI premium charges, to the extent not previously refunded. It may also include 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 receive this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.
All Dealer Services customers who had CPI policies placed in five states within defined time periods, whether those policies were duplicative or not, will receive 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 receive this remediation automatically andare not required to take any action.
In addition, eligible Dealer Services 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 may receive additional compensation and/or account credits under our remediation plan. Where we determine that a repossession was caused by duplicative CPI, in accordance with our remediation plan, the customer will receive 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 will receive the compensation outlined above for duplicative CPI. Again, eligible customers should receive this remediation automatically and are not required to take any action.
For each of these categories, Wells Fargo will also work with the credit bureaus to correct customers’ credit records, if applicable.
Finally, Dealer Services customers who had CPI placed and where our records reflect the customer needed the CPI for the entire coverage period will receive 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.
We are processing and sending remediation payments and related letters to customers included in the remediation as soon as we can. Because of the magnitude and complexity associated with our CPI remediation, some Dealer Services customers may not receive correspondence or payments until later in 2019.
In addition to our Dealer Services CPI remediation outlined above, we are evaluating potential remediation to customers who had CPI placed through Wells Fargo Auto Finance (“Auto Finance”), which was a business unit previously operated separately from Dealer Services. We will update this website with further details on any CPI remediation available to Auto Finance customers when those details are available.
This remediation is ongoing and eligible customers should be receiving notices and remediation automatically. If you have any questions about the CPI remediation plan, please contact our CPI Customer Care Team at 1-888-228-9735 or email at info@WellsFargoCPIPayments.com.
What is the Guaranteed Asset/Auto Protection (“GAP”) Remediation Program?
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 has determined that some customers whose loans originated in the following states may not have received a refund, and Wells Fargo plans to provide remediation to these customers: Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Eligible customers are not required to take any action to receive this remediation and should be receiving notices and remediation automatically. The first remediation payments were mailed in December 2018 and additional mailings are ongoing.
We are continuing to evaluate our GAP remediation plan. We will update this website with further details regarding the remediation plan when the plan is finalized.
This remediation is ongoing and eligible customers should be receiving notices and remediation automatically. If you have any questions about the GAP remediation plan, please contact our GAP Customer Care Team at 1-844-860-6962.
What is the Mortgage Interest Rate Lock Remediation Program?
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. Depending on the circumstances, if a residential mortgage loan does not close during the defined rate lock period, Wells Fargo may charge 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. Effective March 1, 2017, Wells Fargo changed how we manage the rate lock extension process by establishing a centralized review team that reviews all rate lock extension requests for consistent application of our policy.
Between November 2017 and July 2018, 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.
What if I have questions regarding other issues not mentioned above?
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).
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