Regulatory clearance brings bank closer to putting past mortgage servicing issues behind it
Wells Fargo has moved a step closer to resolving its long-standing regulatory issues, announcing that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has lifted a consent order related to its home lending loss mitigation practices.
The order, imposed in 2021, required the bank to overhaul how it managed delinquent mortgage borrowers and barred it from acquiring third-party mortgage servicing or transferring borrowers out of its loan portfolio until remediation efforts were completed.
This marks the fifth consent order Wells Fargo has cleared in 2025 alone, leaving the $1.9 trillion-asset bank with three remaining enforcement actions, including the Federal Reserve’s asset cap restriction imposed in 2018. The rapid progress in resolving these regulatory matters has fueled speculation among analysts that Wells Fargo could be positioning itself to have the Fed’s asset cap lifted.
Read more: Wells Fargo clears two mortgage-related consent orders from the Fed
"We are pleased that the OCC has again validated our work and terminated this consent order in just three and a half years," said CEO Charlie Scharf in a statement. "This timeframe is much improved from other historical orders, including two 2011 Federal Reserve orders which were terminated earlier this year."
The now-lifted consent order was tied to a $250 million penalty Wells Fargo received in 2021 for "unsafe or unsound practices" in its home lending loss mitigation program, which the OCC said violated an earlier 2018 order.
The bank’s mortgage servicing missteps included a calculation error in its foreclosure process that resulted in 870 borrowers being incorrectly denied loan modifications. Of those affected, 545 ultimately lost their homes.
Since 2019, regulators have terminated 11 consent orders against Wells Fargo as it works to restore its standing following a series of scandals that have plagued the bank’s consumer operations.
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However, its regulatory challenges are not entirely behind it. In September 2024, Wells Fargo entered into a formal agreement with the OCC addressing "deficiencies" in its anti-money laundering program.
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