Although Wells Fargo has already conducted an internal review and admitted to wrongfully charging customers extra fees to secure mortgages, and even though Wells Fargo has already agreed to reimburse their customers, it's possible none of that may happen.
That settlement has been placed on hold as temporary Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director Mick Mulvaney reviews the agreement.
From Reuters:
The agency accepted an internal review from Wells Fargo and set settlement terms in early November, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak about internal discussions.
But that matter and roughly a dozen others are in question now that Mick Mulvaney, the agency chief tapped by President Donald Trump, has said he is reviewing the CFPB’s prior work. [...]
More than 100,000 borrowers paid the fee to lock in a fixed-rate loan between September 2013 and February 2017, the bank has said, adding it believes a “substantial number” of those charges were appropriate.
To their credit, Wells Fargo says it will reimburse their customers even if the CFPB doesn't force them to. The choice in this instance seems clear for the bank because they have enough black eyes as it is, but that may not always be the case in the future.
There may be cases of fraud or abuse in the future that we won't even hear about because Mick Mulvaney has no interest in actually protecting consumers. Mulvaney thinks his job is to protect big corporations from the little guy.