Adding fuel to the Wells Fargo fire, the company has now been sanctioned by none other than the Justice Department for improperly repossessing cars that had been owned by military personnel.
Bloomberg reported on Thursday (Sept. 29) that the department found that the financial firm racked up more than 400 violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and those repossessions will cost Wells Fargo more than $4 million in penalties. As has been seen in the past, the firm, in agreeing to pay the fine, neither admitted nor denied the unlawfulness of the repossessions. The bank said it has been in the process of compensating those affected by the repossessions.
Wells Fargo has branches at eight U.S. military bases, said the newswire, and this is not the first time the firm has run afoul of military lending mandates. In the past, Wells Fargo had been party to settlements tied to mortgage lending to military personnel.
