Wells Fargo To Shut Down All Personal Credit Lines

Wells Fargo on Thursday gave customers a 60-day notice that it is shutting down all existing personal lines of credit and will also no longer be offering its popular lending product, according to a CNBC report.

The $3,000 to $100,000 in revolving credit lines were a way for customers to consolidate higher-interest credit-card debt, pay for home renovations or avoid overdraft fees on linked checking accounts, CNBC noted.

“In an effort to simplify our product offerings, we’ve made the decision to no longer offer personal lines of credit as we feel we can better meet the borrowing needs of our customers through credit card and personal loan products,” the bank said in the emailed statement.

Wells Fargo, which is the third-biggest bank with nearly $1.8 trillion in total assets, also warned customers that the account closures “may have an impact on your credit score.” The San Francisco-based financial services company did not disclose how many credit lines customers it is eliminating.

According to its most recent Quarterly Supplement report, Wells Fargo had $24.9 billion in loans in a category called “other consumer” as of March, which was 26% lower than the year-earlier period.

The move comes more than a year after the bank suspended home equity loans, given the economic uncertainty of the pandemic, Reuters noted.

“We apologize for the inconvenience this Line of Credit closure will cause,” Wells Fargo said. “The account closure is final.”