Drop in complaints is silver lining for Wells Fargo in 2017

Bloomberg

Wells Fargo & Co. spent much of 2017 trying to dig out of several consumer banking scandals. By one measure, it’s making progress. Complaints lodged against the lender with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through Dec 15 dropped 18% from the same period of 2016, the steepest decline among major banks, federal figures show. Still, it remained first among that group in total complaints.
The drop came despite the bank announcing that employees opened more fake accounts than previously thought and that it will compensate customers who were wrongfully charged fees for extending low mortgage rates or for auto insurance they didn’t need. The bank even caught the ire of President Donald Trump, who tweeted last month that it may face even higher penalties for “bad acts against their customers.”
“We have taken a number of steps over the last year, including eliminating product sales goals in our community bank, intensifying our focus on customer experience, proactively refunding customers who may have suffered harm as a result of inappropriate practices, enhancing our risk management organization, and holding executive leadership accountable for issues when they arise,” Richele Messick, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, said.