Wells Fargo Secretly Enrolled Consumers In Unwanted Financial Products, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action claims Wells Fargo has knowingly enrolled customers in various financial products or services without their knowledge or consent.

Did you receive a letter from Wells Fargo stating that you were enrolled in a financial product or service you did not authorize? Let us know here.

The 19-page Wells Fargo lawsuit was filed by a New Mexico resident who says the bank sent a letter early last month that stated she was enrolled in its accidental death insurance plan from May 2009 until December 2022. The plaintiff alleges that her 13-year enrollment in this financial product was something she “never approved of, never wanted, and never knew about.”

According to the filing, other current and former Wells Fargo customers received “largely identical” letters from the bank throughout late 2023 and early 2024, notifying them that they had been enrolled in unwanted services for months or even years.

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“During this time, Wells Fargo was extracting fees, interest, payments, and other considerations for these enrollments at [the plaintiff’s] and class members’ expense,” the suit contends.

The lawsuit alleges these unauthorized enrollments were intentional, pointing to a massive 2016 scandal in which Wells Fargo opened roughly 1.5 million fake deposit accounts and 565,000 fake credit card accounts in customers’ names without their knowledge or permission. The bank also agreed in 2022 to pay $3.7 billion in fines and consumer refunds to settle allegations of mismanagement across several of its product lines, the case notes.

The letter instructed recipients to call a provided phone number within 60 days if they “feel that the enrollment in this product was not authorized or not wanted by you,” purportedly so Wells Fargo can “care for any impact this enrollment may have caused,” the suit relays.

The plaintiff initially thought the letter was a scam, which the case alleges is by design.

“Wells Fargo relies on the inconspicuous and suspicious nature of the letter to depress claims rates, shifting the burden on the customer to take action to dispute an ‘enrollment’ that Wells Fargo knows to have been illegitimate,” the lawsuit claims.

The suit further argues that the bank has been compensating customers with “inadequate” offers and presenting callers with administrative hurdles to discourage them from asking too many questions about the amounts they’re actually owed.

For instance, the plaintiff says that when she called the phone number listed in the letter, a representative was unable or unwilling to tell her how much money Wells Fargo had wrongfully taken from her for the accidental death insurance. The plaintiff was then transferred to two additional representatives, neither of whom could or would answer her questions, the complaint contends. When the woman visited her Wells Fargo bank in person, the teller informed her that the branch didn’t have access to the requested corporate information, the case shares.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States to whom Wells Fargo sent a letter informing them that a recent review of its records indicated that they were enrolled in a product and that they should contact the bank if they did not authorize or did not want the product.

Did you receive a letter from Wells Fargo stating that you were enrolled in a financial product or service you did not authorize? Let us know here.