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http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/08/inv...ndal/index.html?iid=ob_article_footer_adblock
Imagine keeping up with your Wells Fargo car loan payment every month -- but having your vehicle repossessed anyway. That's exactly what Samir Hanef said happened to him.
"My car was held as extortion and I was forced to pay for Wells Fargo's mistake," Hanef told CNNMoney.
"The stress and anxiety ... are truly indescribable," said the clinical social worker from Durham, North Carolina.
He is one of up to 570,000 auto loan borrowers that Wells Fargo has said it may have enrolled and charged for car insurance without their knowledge. Wells Fargo has admitted that as many as 20,000 of those customers may have defaulted on their car loans or had their vehicles repossessed in part due to these unnecessary insurance costs.
Wells Fargo told CNNMoney that it plans to work directly with Hanef to give him a refund.
"We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this caused our customers," a Wells Fargo spokeswoman said in an email to CNNMoney.
Unlike most big banks, Wells Fargo's auto loan contracts allowed the lender to obtain collateral protection insurance on a customer's behalf if they failed to buy liability coverage themselves. Wells Fargo conceded that it bought insurance for some customers -- and charged them for it -- even when they had their own.
Lenders can impose collateral protection insurance on borrowers if their normal coverage lapses. It's designed to protect from a financial loss in the event the borrower gets hit with an insurance claim, such as for an accident, and doesn't have any coverage.
Wells Fargo told CNNMoney that it has discontinued this insurance program after "finding errors" that hurt some customers.
Imagine keeping up with your Wells Fargo car loan payment every month -- but having your vehicle repossessed anyway. That's exactly what Samir Hanef said happened to him.
"My car was held as extortion and I was forced to pay for Wells Fargo's mistake," Hanef told CNNMoney.
"The stress and anxiety ... are truly indescribable," said the clinical social worker from Durham, North Carolina.
He is one of up to 570,000 auto loan borrowers that Wells Fargo has said it may have enrolled and charged for car insurance without their knowledge. Wells Fargo has admitted that as many as 20,000 of those customers may have defaulted on their car loans or had their vehicles repossessed in part due to these unnecessary insurance costs.
Wells Fargo told CNNMoney that it plans to work directly with Hanef to give him a refund.
"We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this caused our customers," a Wells Fargo spokeswoman said in an email to CNNMoney.
Unlike most big banks, Wells Fargo's auto loan contracts allowed the lender to obtain collateral protection insurance on a customer's behalf if they failed to buy liability coverage themselves. Wells Fargo conceded that it bought insurance for some customers -- and charged them for it -- even when they had their own.
Lenders can impose collateral protection insurance on borrowers if their normal coverage lapses. It's designed to protect from a financial loss in the event the borrower gets hit with an insurance claim, such as for an accident, and doesn't have any coverage.
Wells Fargo told CNNMoney that it has discontinued this insurance program after "finding errors" that hurt some customers.
