Wells Fargo
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo is one of the nation’s largest financial services institutions, providing banking, mortgage, investing, credit card, personal, small business, and commercial financial services.
On the mortgage side of the business, Wells Fargo finished the third quarter of 2021 ranked as the 4th largest mortgage lender in the country by volume. The company originated $51.9 billion worth of mortgages in the third quarter of 2021, down slightly from the $53.2 billion it recorded in the second quarter. Its nine-month total of $156.9 billion (including all channels) ranked behind Rocket Mortgage, PennyMac, and United Wholesale Mortgage. In the retail category specifically, Wells Fargo is the second-highest originator in the country.
Wells Fargo had spent years as the largest retail mortgage lender in the country until it was surpassed by Rocket Mortgage (then Quicken Loans) late in 2017.
Wells Fargo is led by chief executive officer Charlie Scharf, who took on the role in 2019, following the company’s wide-ranging sales practices scandal that first came about in 2016. Since that year, Wells Fargo has paid out close to $4 billion in fines and penalties for sales practices that encouraged employees to allegedly open millions of unauthorized bank accounts.
In September 2021, Wells Fargo received a $250 million civil money penalty by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for “unsafe or unsound practices” related to its home lending loss mitigation program.
Earlier in the year, Wells Fargo also agreed to pay $95.7 million to settle an LO comp class-action lawsuit that was brought forward by 5,377 loan officers and mortgage employees that worked at the institution between 2013 and 2019. The argument centered around wage violations in California, alleging that Wells Fargo didn’t compensate mortgage professionals for non-sales work, clawed back vacation pay from commissions, and did not pay overtime wages as required by laws.
Latest Posts
Q2 mortgage volumes improve at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and Citi
Jul 12, 2024Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Citi saw double-digit home loan production increases from April to June compared to the previous quarter.
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Wells Fargo extends $5,000 closing cost credit
Jun 17, 2024 -
Mortgage underwriting algorithm at heart of Wells Fargo’s racial disparity lawsuit
Jun 13, 2024 -
Wells Fargo has a new home loan sales leader
May 21, 2024 -
Mr. Cooper adds to its executive ranks
Apr 23, 2024 -
Mortgage volumes remain under pressure at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan
Apr 12, 2024 -
CFPB takes a closer look at consumer mortgage complaints
Mar 29, 2024 -
Mortgage volumes collectively fell $138B at Wells, JPMorgan and BofA in 2023
Jan 12, 2024 -
Wells Fargo, other mortgage lenders under scrutiny for pricing exceptions: CNBC
Dec 11, 2023 -
Wells Fargo settles lawsuit with ex-LO over allegedly discriminatory lending practices
Dec 08, 2023 -
Wells Fargo, CoreLogic partner on real estate tax processing operations
Nov 14, 2023 -
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan show two different paths for mortgages in Q3 2023
Oct 13, 2023