Citing a recent investigation by NBC News, two U.S. senators have asked the chief executive of Wells Fargo to answer extensive questions about the bank’s practice of pausing mortgage payments for borrowers without their consent under a federal program designed to help homeowners financially hurt by COVID-19.

The senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, both Democrats and members of the Senate Banking Committee, wrote a letter on July 29 requesting information and documents about Wells Fargo’s policy of placing customers in so-called forbearance programs they did not request.

The conduct can harm borrowers’ credit reports by showing that they are not making payments even when they are and can prevent them from refinancing their home loans to take advantage of rock-bottom interest rates.

The senators’ letter said the bank “appears to be incapable of self-governance,” and noted that reports of borrowers being placed in forbearance programs they did not want “raise even more questions about the inability of Wells Fargo and its leadership team to comply with the law and the needs of its customers.”

via Two senators demand answers from Wells Fargo following NBC News reports