Wells Fargo will pay $3.7B for criminal mismanagement of loans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 billion in compensation for illegal conduct leading to billions of dollars in financial harm to its customers.

The third-largest U.S bank by domestic assets will pay more than $2 billion in redress to consumers and a $1.7 billion civil penalty for legal violations across several of its largest product lines that include unlawfully repossessing vehicles and bungling borrower accounts, improperly denying mortgage modifications, illegally charging surprise overdraft fees, and unlawfully freezing consumer accounts while mispresenting fee waivers, according to the CFPB statement.

In thousands of cases, the nation's largest depository mortgage lender caused customers to lose their vehicles and homes.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a release that "Wells Fargo’s rinse-repeat cycle of violating the law has harmed millions of American families."