Wells Fargo Bank will pay $8.5 million in a settlement reached with six California counties over the bank’s practices of recording phone conversations.
The settlement announced Tuesday was the result of a civil complaint filed against the bank for failing to timely and adequately disclose automatic recording of phone calls, according to a news release from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
California law states that anyone on the line must be told a conversation is being recorded at the beginning of a phone call.
Wells Fargo has agreed to change its policies and pay civil penalties totaling $7.6 million. The company will also reimburse $384,000, the amount the counties spent investigating the issue.
San Diego County will receive one-sixth of the civil penalties or $1,269,333.33 and $64,000 of the costs, according to the DA’s office.
By law, those funds must be used for future consumer investigations.
Wells Fargo will also give $500,000 to two statewide consumer protection and privacy rights organizations, the DA’s office stated.
