Consumer complaint received 2019-10-17
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Application denied

Complaint:
Wells Fargo has used the past national scandal involving widespread abuse of the application process by its representatives to practice widespread discrimination -- according to the perceived ethnicity and/or racial background of applicants over the phone -- in the form of a policy of doing hard inquiries on consumer credit files in connection with any and all applications for Wells Fargo consumer financial products, without having any intention to compete the application, until and unless the applicant phones in. Long before I adopted my recent practice of freezing my credit files, Wells Fargo has always been the only financial institution I have ever encountered that consistently requires me to phone in to verify my identity in connection with an application of any kind, which I have been informed today by a Wells Fargo representative is standard procedure with Wells Fargo. Although Wells Fargo will doubtless claim that this is a means for Wells Fargo to address past widespread abuse of the application process by Wells Fargo representatives, it also serves ( intentionally or not ) to provide Wells Fargo with an opportunity to practice widespread discrimination based on the perceived ethnicity and/or racial background of applicants over the phone ( I myself am of XXXX-Descent ). 

By way of example, my application for a VISA Cash Wise Credit Card ( Reference # : XXXX ) was declined over the phone today ( I had received an email from Wells Fargo last night indicating that I needed to phone in for my application to be processed, 22 minutes before I got an email notification from XXXX that my credit file had been accessed by Wells Fargo ), supposedly because I have too many unused credit cards. Although it is conceivable that this could be a legitimate reason for declining a credit card application, it is one that I have not previously encountered or heard of in 20 years as an avid e-consumer. More to the point, it is blatantly fraudulent for Wells Fargo to have a policy of doing hard inquiries on consumer credit files in connection with applications for a consumer financial products without having any intention to actually process the application until and unless the applicant phones in. 

Of particular concern is an application I submitted online on XX/XX/2017 for Wells Fargo Ways2Save and Everyday Checking accounts ( Reference # : XXXX, in response to a Wells Fargo flyer sent to me by U.S. Mail ). The application was immediately conditionally approved via email pending my return of a signed & dated standard Consumer Account Application form, only to have Wells Fargo send me a second email 10 days later requiring me to phone in for my application to be processed, which I did not do, since I suspected it was a ruse on the part of Wells Fargo to use the national scandal involving pervasive fraudulence on the part of its representatives as a pretext for practicing widespread discrimination -- and which I phoned in today specifically to confirm ( I only unfroze my credit files yesterday through the end of next month because I am in the process of moving and have no plans to apply for any more consumer loans or financial products of any kind ).

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation