Wells Fargo put false information on your credit report?

Who Wells Fargo is and what it reports

Wells Fargo offers checking and savings accounts, credit cards, home loans, personal loans and auto loans. A customer with several of these has several chances for an error, because each loan or card account can appear as its own line on your credit report.

Card, mortgage, auto and personal loan accounts are typically reported to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion every month. A lender that reports this way is a “furnisher” under the FCRA. A checking account closed with a negative balance can also be reported to a deposit screening agency such as ChexSystems or Early Warning Services.

Wells Fargo’s record with the CFPB

Two CFPB actions bear directly on the kinds of errors that end up on credit reports.

Unauthorized accounts (2016). On September 8, 2016, the CFPB fined Wells Fargo Bank $100 million. It found that employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to meet sales targets, and that, according to the bank’s own analysis, employees opened more than two million deposit and credit card accounts that may not have been authorized by consumers. The bank also paid $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles.

Auto loans, mortgages and deposit accounts (2022). On December 20, 2022, the CFPB ordered Wells Fargo to pay more than $2 billion in consumer redress and a $1.7 billion civil penalty. In auto lending, the CFPB found the bank misapplied payments, charged incorrect fees and interest, and wrongly repossessed vehicles. In mortgage servicing, it found the bank improperly denied loan modifications and miscalculated or improperly charged fees. On deposit accounts, it found the bank froze accounts over suspected fraud when lesser measures were available and charged overdraft fees when customers had enough money to cover the transaction. The CFPB now lists that order as terminated.

These are regulator findings about the bank’s practices, not about your file. But a misapplied payment becomes a late payment on a credit report, and an unauthorized account becomes a tradeline that is not yours.

Errors Wells Fargo accounts commonly cause

• Misapplied payments. A car or mortgage payment credited to the wrong month, the wrong account or not at all, then reported 30, 60 or 90 days late.
• Loss-mitigation lates. Late marks reported while you were in a trial modification, forbearance or other agreed plan, or while a modification application was pending.
• Accounts you never opened. A card or account opened without your consent and reported under your name.
• Repossession balances. A deficiency balance reported after a repossession you dispute, or a balance that does not account for the sale proceeds.
• Paid loans shown open. A mortgage or auto loan paid off or refinanced still shown as open, active or past due.
• Deposit account reporting. A checking account closed after a fraud freeze, reported to a deposit screening agency as a loss you caused.

How to dispute a Wells Fargo error

Tell Wells Fargo, but do not stop there. The dispute that protects your right to sue is the one you file with the credit bureaus.

1. Pull all three reports. Get your Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and save dated copies.
2. Dispute with each bureau reporting the error. Our guides to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion cover their dispute channels. Identify the account, the month and exactly what is wrong.
3. Attach proof. Payment confirmations, bank statements showing the debit, your modification or forbearance agreement, a payoff letter, or an FTC identity theft report.
4. For mortgage errors, also send a notice of error. Under federal mortgage servicing rules, a servicer that receives a written notice of error about a payment generally may not report adverse information about that payment to the bureaus for 60 days (12 U.S.C. § 2605(e)(3); 12 C.F.R. § 1024.35(i)).
5. Keep everything. Save confirmations, letters and every results notice.

Why the bureau dispute matters. When a bureau gets your dispute, it must notify Wells Fargo (§ 1681i(a)(2)). That notice triggers Wells Fargo’s duty under § 1681s-2(b) to reasonably investigate, review what you sent, and correct or delete anything inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. Consumers can sue to enforce that duty. They cannot sue under § 1681s-2(a), which covers the furnisher’s general accuracy duties and direct disputes.

Your FCRA rights

• Furnisher investigation (§ 1681s-2(b)). A real investigation after a bureau dispute, not a rubber stamp.
• Bureau accuracy and reinvestigation (§§ 1681e(b), 1681i). A bureau that keeps reporting the error may be separately liable.
• Identity theft blocking (§ 1681c-2). With an identity theft report, the bureaus generally must block fraudulent information within four business days. Wells Fargo’s own identity theft duties under § 1681s-2(a)(6) are enforced by regulators.
• Obsolete information (§ 1681c). Most negative items cannot be reported after seven years.

What you may recover

For a negligent violation, you may recover actual damages, including credit denials, higher rates and emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). For a willful violation, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and fees and costs (§ 1681n).

Get a free case review before your deadline

An FCRA claim generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If Wells Fargo is reporting a late payment you did not make, an account you did not open or a balance you do not owe, gather your reports and dispute results and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys has offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, files FCRA cases in federal court nationwide, directly or with local counsel, and works on contingency. There is no fee unless we win.

Questions about suing Wells Fargo

Can I sue Wells Fargo over my credit report?

Possibly. Wells Fargo is a furnisher of credit information. If you dispute an error through Equifax, Experian or TransUnion and Wells Fargo fails to reasonably investigate and correct it, 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b) allows a lawsuit. Disputing only with Wells Fargo directly generally does not create that right.

Wells Fargo misapplied my car payment and reported it late. What can I do?

Gather proof of when you paid and how much, such as bank statements and payment confirmations, and dispute the late payment with each credit bureau reporting it. If Wells Fargo verifies the late mark after reviewing your proof, that may support an FCRA claim against it, and against a bureau that failed to reinvestigate properly.

What does it cost to hire FCRA Attorneys?

Nothing up front. We handle FCRA cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win. The FCRA also allows a successful consumer to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the company under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n and 1681o.

How long do I have to sue Wells Fargo?

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, an FCRA lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after the violation occurred. Each new inaccurate verification can matter, so keep every dispute result.

Related reading

• How to Dispute Credit Report Errors With Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
• How to Remove a Late Payment From Your Credit Report, and When You Can't
• Do You Still Have an FCRA Claim After the Error Was Fixed?
• Denied Credit During a Credit Dispute: What You Can Do

Sources

• WellsFargo.com: consumer products (checking, savings, credit cards, home loans, personal loans, auto loans)
• CFPB enforcement action: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (2022), consent order December 20, 2022
• CFPB enforcement action: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (2016), unauthorized accounts, September 8, 2016

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.