Student Loans Scam

Summary:

In 2016 the CFPB fined Wells Fargo $3.6 million for illegally charging on-time payers with late fees, failing to inform borrowers of steps they could take to minimize fees.

Wells Fargo left borrowers in the dark about how it divided single payments between their multiple loans, and did not make borrowers aware that they could decide how payments were to be allocated, which led to the possibility of unnecessary late fees. Billing statements did not make it clear that partial payment could be counted toward paying down student debt. The bank illegally tagged some borrowers with late fees though payments had been made as scheduled, and when it gave wrong information to credit reporting entities, it did not correct them.