Regulatory issues The company has been the subject of several investigations by regulators. Many of these issues have resulted in
reputational damage. On February 2, 2018, the
Wells Fargo account fraud scandal resulted in the
Federal Reserve barring Wells Fargo from growing its nearly $2 trillion asset base any further until the company fixed its internal problems to the satisfaction of the Federal Reserve. In June 2025, the Federal Reserve lifted the punitive asset cap, allowing the bank to pursue growth and provide more financing to corporate clients. Scharf called the decision "a pivotal milestone in our journey to transform Wells Fargo." In September 2021, Wells Fargo incurred further fines from the
United States Justice Department charging fraudulent behavior by the bank against
foreign-exchange currency trading customers.
Bloomberg L.P. reported in March 2022 that Wells Fargo was the only major lender in 2020 to reject more home
refinance applications from Black applicants than it approved. In December 2022, the U.S. levied a $3.7 billion loan-management fine upon Wells Fargo. In March 2023, Wells Fargo blamed a technical glitch for misstating the balances of customers' accounts, in many cases incorrectly deeming the customers as having a negative bank balance. Subsequently, in 2023,
prison sentencing took place for employee-directed
money laundering and funneling cash illegally to Mexico through the creation of fictitious accounts.
1981 MAPS Wells Fargo embezzlement scandal In 1981, it was discovered that a Wells Fargo assistant operations officer, Lloyd Benjamin "Ben" Lewis, had perpetrated one of the largest embezzlements in history through its Beverly Drive branch. During 1978–1981, Lewis had successfully written phony debit and credit receipts to benefit
boxing promoters Harold J. Smith (
né Ross Eugene Fields) and Sam "Sammie" Marshall, chairman and president, respectively, of Muhammad Ali Professional Sports, Inc. (MAPS), of which Lewis was also listed as a director; Marshall, too, was a former employee of the same Wells Fargo branch as Lewis. In excess of $300,000 was paid to Lewis, who pled guilty to
embezzlement and
conspiracy charges in 1981, and testified against his co-conspirators for a reduced five-year sentence. (Boxer
Muhammad Ali had received a fee for the use of his name, and had no other involvement with the organization.)
Higher costs charged to African-American and Hispanic borrowers Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan filed suit against Wells Fargo on July 31, 2009, alleging that the bank steered
African Americans and
Hispanics into high-cost
subprime loans. A Wells Fargo spokesman responded that "The policies, systems, and controls we have in place – including in Illinois – ensure race is not a factor..." An affidavit filed in the case stated that loan officers had referred to black mortgage-seekers as "mud people," and the subprime loans as "ghetto loans." According to Beth Jacobson, a loan officer at Wells Fargo interviewed for a report in
The New York Times, "We just went right after them. Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans." The report presented data from the city of
Baltimore, where more than half the properties subject to foreclosure on a Wells Fargo loan from 2005 to 2008 now stand vacant, and 71 percent of those are in predominantly black neighborhoods.
Failure to monitor suspected money laundering In a March 2010 agreement with US federal prosecutors, Wells Fargo acknowledged that between 2004 and 2007
Wachovia had failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers, including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine into Mexico.
Overdraft fees In August 2010, Wells Fargo was fined by
United States district court judge
William Alsup for overdraft practices designed to "gouge" consumers and "profiteer" at their expense, and for misleading consumers about how the bank processed transactions and assessed overdraft fees. In May 2013, Wells Fargo paid $203 million to settle class-action litigation accusing the bank of imposing excessive
overdraft fees on checking-account customers.
Settlement and fines regarding mortgage servicing practices On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest
mortgage servicers (
Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Government and 49 states over improper foreclosure practices in the
2010 United States foreclosure crisis, including "robo-signing" (having someone fraudulently sign that they know the contents of a document they do not in fact know) and foreclosing without
standing via
MERS. The settlement, known as the
National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in direct payments to the federal and state governments; Wells Fargo's share was the second largest, at $5.4 billion. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in U.S. history, only trailing the
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards.
Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately. On April 5, 2012, a federal judge ordered Wells Fargo to pay $3.1 million in punitive damages over a single loan, one of the largest fines for a bank ever for mortgaging service misconduct, after the bank improperly charged Michael Jones, a
New Orleans homeowner, with $24,000 in mortgage fees, after the bank misallocated payments to interest instead of principal. Elizabeth Magner, a federal bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana, cited the bank's behavior as "highly reprehensible", stating that Wells Fargo has taken advantage of borrowers who rely on the bank's accurate calculations. The award was affirmed on appeal in 2013. In May 2013, New York attorney-general
Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Wells Fargo over alleged violations of the national mortgage settlement. Schneidermann claimed Wells Fargo had violated rules over giving fair and timely serving. In 2015, a judge sided with Wells Fargo.
SEC fine due to inadequate risk disclosures On August 14, 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay around $6.5 million to settle
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges that in 2007 it sold risky
mortgage-backed securities without fully realizing their dangers.
Lawsuit by FHA over loan underwriting In 2016, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle allegations that the company violated the
False Claims Act by underwriting over 100,000
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed loans when over half of the applicants did not qualify for the program. In October 2012, Wells Fargo was sued by
United States Attorney Preet Bharara over questionable mortgage deals.
Lawsuit due to premium inflation on forced place insurance In April 2013, Wells Fargo settled a suit with 24,000 Florida homeowners alongside insurer
QBE Insurance, in which Wells Fargo was accused of inflating premiums on forced-place insurance.
Violation of New York credit card laws In February 2015, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $4 million, including a $2 million penalty and $2 million in restitution for illegally taking an interest in the homes of borrowers in exchange for opening credit card accounts for the homeowners.
Tax liability and lobbying In December 2011,
Public Campaign criticized Wells Fargo for spending $11 million on
lobbying during 2008–2010, while increasing executive pay and laying off workers, while having no federal tax liability due to losses from the
Great Recession. However, in 2013, the company paid $9.1 billion in income taxes.
Prison industry investment The company has invested its clients' funds in
GEO Group, a multi-national provider of for-profit
private prisons. By March 2012, its stake had grown to more than 4.4 million shares worth $86.7 million. As of November 2012, Wells Fargo divested 33% of its holdings of GEO's stock, reducing its stake to 4.98% of Geo Group's common stock, below the threshold of which it must disclose further transactions.
SEC settlement for insider trading case In May 2015, Gregory T. Bolan Jr., a stock analyst at Wells Fargo agreed to pay $75,000 to the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations that he gave Joseph C. Ruggieri, a stock trader, insider information on probable ratings charges. Ruggieri was not convicted of any crime.
Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal In September 2016, Wells Fargo was issued a combined total of $185 million in fines for opening over 1.5 million checking and savings accounts and 500,000 credit cards on behalf of customers without their consent. The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued $100 million in fines, the largest in the agency's five-year history, along with $50 million in fines from the City and County of Los Angeles, and $35 million in fines from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. The scandal was caused by an incentive-compensation program for employees to create new accounts. It led to the firing of nearly 5,300 employees and $5 million being set aside for customer refunds on fees for accounts the customers never wanted.
Carrie Tolstedt, who headed the department, retired in July 2016 and received $124.6 million in stock, options, and restricted Wells Fargo shares as a retirement package. On October 12, 2016,
John Stumpf, the then chairman and CEO, announced that he would be retiring amidst the scandals. President and chief operating officer
Timothy J. Sloan succeeded Stumpf, effective immediately. Following the scandal, applications for credit cards and checking accounts at the bank plummeted. In response to the event, the
Better Business Bureau dropped accreditation of the bank. Several states and cities ended business relations with the company. An investigation by the Wells Fargo board of directors, the report of which was released in April 2017, primarily blamed Stumpf, who it said had not responded to evidence of wrongdoing in the consumer services division, and Tolstedt, who was said to have knowingly set impossible sales goals and refused to respond when subordinates disagreed with them. Wells Fargo coined the phrase, "Go for Gr-Eight" – or, in other words, aim to sell at least 8 products to every customer. The board chose to use a
clawback clause in the retirement contracts of Stumpf and Tolstedt to recover $75 million worth of cash and stock from the former executives. In February 2020, the company agreed to pay $3 billion to settle claims by the
United States Department of Justice and the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement did not prevent individual employees from being targets of future litigation. The
Federal Reserve put a limit to Wells Fargo's assets, as a result of the scandal. In 2020, Wells Fargo sold $100 million in assets to stay under the limit. In December 2022, the bank agreed to a settlement with the CFPB of $3.7billion over abuses tied to the fake account scandal as well as mortgages and auto loans. The total was split between $1.7billion for a civil penalty and $2billion for customers. Separately, in May 2023, the bank agreed to pay $1billion to settle a shareholder class-action suit.
Racketeering lawsuit for mortgage appraisal overcharges In November 2016, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $50 million to settle allegations of overcharging hundreds of thousands of homeowners for appraisals ordered after they defaulted on their mortgage loans. While banks are allowed to charge homeowners for such appraisals, Wells Fargo frequently charged homeowners fees of $95 to $125 on appraisals for which the bank had been charged $50 or less. The plaintiffs had sought triple damages under the U.S.
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act on grounds that sending invoices and statements with fraudulently concealed fees constituted mail and wire fraud sufficient to allege racketeering.
Failure to comply with document security requirements In December 2016, the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Wells Fargo $5.5 million for failing to store electronic documents in a "write once, read many" format, which makes it impossible to alter or destroy records after they are written.
Doing business with the gun industry and NRA From December 2012 through February 2018, Wells Fargo reportedly helped two of the biggest firearms and ammunition companies obtain $431.1 million in loans. It also handled banking for the
National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and provided bank accounts and a $28-million line of credit. Scharf claimed Wells Fargo's relationship with the NRA was "declining," with the company no longer participating in the organization's line of credit and mortgage loan commitments.
Discrimination against female workers In June 2018, about a dozen female Wells Fargo executives from the wealth management division met in
Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss the minimal presence of women occupying senior roles within the company. The meeting, dubbed "the meeting of 12", represented the majority of the regional managing directors, of which 12 out of 45 were women. Wells Fargo had previously been investigating reports of gender bias in the division in the months leading up to the meeting. The women reported that they had been turned down for top jobs despite their qualifications, and instead the roles were occupied by men.
Overselling auto insurance On June 10, 2019, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $385 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of allegedly scamming millions of auto-loan customers into buying insurance they did not need from
National General Insurance. In February 2023, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $300 million in a settlement with shareholders over auto insurance disclosures.
Failure to Supervise Registered Representatives On August 28, 2020, Wells Fargo agreed to pay a fine of $350,000 as well as $10 million in restitution payments to certain customers after the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority accused the company of failing to reasonably supervise two of its
registered representatives that recommended that customers invest a high percentage of their assets in high-risk energy securities in 2014 and 2015.
Steering customers to more expensive retirement accounts In April 2018, the
United States Department of Labor launched a probe into whether Wells Fargo was pushing its customers into more expensive
retirement plans as well as into
retirement funds managed by Wells Fargo itself.
Alteration of documents In May 2018, the company discovered that its business banking group had improperly altered documents about business clients in 2017 and early 2018.
Executive compensation With CEO John Stumpf being paid 473 times more than the median employee, Wells Fargo ranked number 33 among the S&P 500 companies for CEO—employee pay inequality. In October 2014, a Wells Fargo employee earning $15 per hour emailed the CEO—copying 200,000 other employees—asking that all employees be given a $10,000 per year raise taken from a portion of annual corporate profits to address
wage stagnation and income inequality. After being contacted by the media, Wells Fargo responded that all employees receive "market competitive" pay and benefits significantly above U.S. federal minimums. Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, publicly traded companies are required to disclose (1) the median total annual compensation of all employees other than the CEO and (2) the ratio of the CEO's annual total compensation to that of the median employee.
Aggressive freezing and closing of bank accounts The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that, between 2011 and 2016, Wells Fargo had been freezing entire consumer deposit accounts based on automated fraud detection. This freeze extended to the entire account, not just the suspicious amount, and all access to funds was blocked. As a result, customers were unable to access their funds until the accounts were closed and the funds were returned. In 2022, the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau mandated that Wells Fargo provide $160 million in compensation to more than a million individuals, addressing the significant harm caused by its aggressive tactic of freezing and closing bank accounts during the period from 2011 to 2016.
Banker blocked from leaving China On July 17, 2025, Mao Chenyue, a managing director of Wells Fargo, was subjected to an exit ban in China amid an investigation of a criminal case that involved her, as confirmed by
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In response to her exit restrictions, WF announced that it would be suspending employee travel to China. ==In popular culture==