Wells Fargo Investigation: Unauthorized Enrollments in Identity Theft, Financial Products

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are looking into whether Wells Fargo violated federal and state consumer protection laws by enrolling customers in financial products or services they never requested or authorized—and whether legal action can be taken.

Specifically, current and former Wells Fargo customers have reported receiving letters from the bank stating that “a recent review” indicates they were enrolled in certain products or services—including identity theft protection, accidental death coverage, unemployment products, Credit Defense, Sign/Drive Bonus products, and more. The letters reportedly indicated that the consumers could contact Wells Fargo within a certain number of days if they felt their enrollment was not authorized or wanted.

Consumers Post on Reddit, Elsewhere Online About Unwanted Product Letters

Since late 2023, consumers have been posting on Reddit and other online forums about the letters they’ve received from Wells Fargo, with many wondering whether the letter was a scam.

According to the reports, the substantially similar letters (an example of which can be found in this Reddit comment) were sent with Wells Fargo letterhead and stated that “a recent review of our current and former customer accounts” indicated that the consumer was enrolled in a certain financial product or service for a specified time frame, sometimes dating back decades.

The letters went on to say that if the consumer felt their enrollment in the stated product or service “was not authorized or not wanted,” they could call Wells Fargo within 60 days so the bank could “care for any impact this enrollment may have caused.”

Consumers who called the phone number in the letter reported that they were offered money by Wells Fargo—with some being offered more money if they refused to accept the initial amount. However, many people complained that Wells Fargo’s apparent remedy was insufficient to compensate them for their damages, which in some cases included monthly charges for a service the customer never knew about or wanted, or that they had no way to verify how much they were owed.

Others complained that they threw away their letters thinking they were being scammed and were unable to claim the payment they were due.

Previous Wells Fargo Lawsuits, Actions

In December 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 billion for legal violations that the agency said cost customers billions of dollars. Under the terms of the order, the bank had to pay over $2 billion in redress to consumers and a $1.7 billion fine to the CFPB that would be used to provide relief to victims of financial law violations.

The CFPB said Wells Fargo’s misconduct affected more than 16 million accounts across many of the bank’s largest product lines and included unlawfully repossessing vehicles, improperly denying mortgage modifications, illegally charging surprise overdraft fees, unlawfully freezing consumer accounts and misrepresenting fee waivers.

Separately, in February 2020, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3 billion to settle criminal and civil allegations related to its infamous fake accounts scandal that first gained attention in September 2016. The bank was accused of pressuring its employees to meet unrealistic sales goals that resulted in thousands of employees opening accounts on customers’ behalf or signing them up for financial products without consent.

As part of an agreement with several states’ attorneys general, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wells Fargo admitted that it had collected millions of dollars in fees and interest that it was not entitled to, harmed customers’ credit, and misused their personal information.

Is This a Lawsuit? What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?

You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:

[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”

Wells Fargo’s deposit account agreements contain an arbitration clause requiring customers to resolve disputes via arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of court before a neutral arbitrator, as opposed to a judge or jury. It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter as a mass arbitration rather than a class action lawsuit.

How Much Does This Cost?

It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.

If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.

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