Report: Wells Fargo refunding millions to customers for add-on products, services
Wells Fargo & Co. is refunding hundreds of thousands of customers tens of millions of dollars for account add-on products such as legal services or insurance, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Wells Fargo shares were lower by 0.3 percent in early trading Thursday.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into the matter, the report said.
Wells first disclosed issues with add-on products in its second-quarter regulatory filing last year. In its most recent filing in May it said practices related to consumer add-on products like identity theft and debt protection were the subject of a June 2015 consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator for national banks. Wells said it was reviewing the products and has begun remediation efforts.
The bank stopped selling add-on products in the middle of last year and is phasing out of existing consumer add-on products.
More:Workers are 'ghosting' interviews, blowing off work in a strong job market
More:IHOP: Fake name change to IHOb to boost burger business was risk worth taking
More:Analysis: 10 years after global financial meltdown, big banks still play with fire
In a statement emailed to CNBC, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Catherine Pulley said: "We are reviewing add-on products sold to consumers by the Bank or its service providers and if issues are found during this review, we will make things right with customers in the form of refunds or remediation. We are working with our regulators on the ongoing review.”
Regulators are looking at whether customers were deceived, Dow Jones reported, and at their awareness of the products and ability to cancel them.
Wells Fargo has spent nearly two years trying to clean up from a scandal that first erupted in 2016 over fake accounts opened in customers' names by employees trying to meet aggressive sales targets. Soon, sales practices in other areas of the bank fell under scrutiny, including in mortgages and auto lending.
In April, the bank struck a $1 billion settlement with the CFPB and the OCC over its risk management failings.
© CNBC is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.