Wells Fargo Reaches Settlement Over Car Repossessions

Wells Fargo & Co. has reached a settlement with the Justice Department and federal regulators over allegedly improper repossessions of cars belonging to members of the U.S. military, according to people familiar with the deal.

The settlement, for about $24 million, comes on the same day the bank's CEO faced tough questions from a congressional committee about its questionable sales practices in signing customers up for bank accounts and credit cards they didn't want or know about.

The settlement is being struck with federal prosecutors and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a regulatory agency. The OCC's share of the settlement is about $20 million and the Justice Department's share of the settlement is about $4 million, according to people familiar with the terms.

The settlement will resolve allegations from government investigators that the bank violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, these people said.

Earlier this month, the bank reached a $185 million settlement with a federal consumer protection watchdog, Los Angeles officials, and the OCC after authorities found evidence of widespread abuse of customers by bank employees secretly signing up customers for unwanted accounts and often charging them fees on those accounts.

Representatives for the bank couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The new settlement was first reported by Bloomberg.

Write to Devlin Barrett at [e-mail] and Emily Glazer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 29, 2016 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)

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