(Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co. said holders of its student cards will see their costs decline by about half as its expands benefits after drawing scrutiny earlier this year for high fees on college campuses.
The San Francisco-based bank said Wednesday that students who bank with Wells Fargo through its campus card program are eligible to have overdraft or non-sufficient funds fees waived once a month. The lender will refund fees for four withdrawals a month from non-Wells Fargo ATMs, while eliminating overdraft-protection transfer charges and refunding the cost of one incoming wire per month.
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report released last year said Wells Fargo charged the highest fees to students of 573 banks examined. The results drew criticism from lawmakers including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“In addition to what we have learned from our own customers, we also benefited from the findings of the industry study of campus card programs released at the end of last year,” said Ed Kadletz, head of Wells Fargo's deposit products group.
The changes went into effect last month, according to bank spokesman Jim Seitz. Wells Fargo has said it sees college-age consumers as a growth opportunity while the bank navigates a regulatory growth cap in the wake of scandals.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hannah Levitt in New York at hlevitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl, Josh Friedman
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