Wells Fargo has paid out a lot of money in the past to settle scandals.
The bank's "illegal" practices cost customers billions of dollars, according to the consumer agency that brought the case.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Wells Fargo of wrongly charging overdraft fees and repossessing customers' cars because of its own alleged problems with how it handled car loans.
The agency says that some customers had their homes wrongly foreclosed on because the bank denied their applications to adjust their loans.
According to Wells Fargo, it has already paid out $2 billion to customers affected by the alleged practices, and will pay the civil fine. Wells Fargo did not admit or deny the allegations of the CFPB.
The company's statement on Tuesday said that it has made significant progress in making changes and that the agency itself is recognizing those improvements.
"This far-reaching agreement is an important milestone in our work to transform the operating practices at Wells Fargo and to put these issues behind us," said the CEO of Wells Fargo.
The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Tuesday that Wells Fargo's dominance in consumer banking and other settlements over the years warrants more scrutiny.
The consent order states that there isn't any protection for individual executives from being targeted down the road.
One third of American households are at risk of harm because of Wells Fargo, according to a prepared statement. It is a top priority to find a permanent resolution to the bank's behavior.
There are other settlements with the US.
As Wells Fargo increased the amount of cross-selling, it resulted in a stunning outcome. The bank was found to have opened 2 million accounts without customers' permission and would have to pay $185 million in fines.
Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called for the firing of Wells Fargo's CEO at a Senate hearing. He quit in the year 2019.
In 2020, Wells Fargo said it would pay $3 billion.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claimed that Wells Fargo hurt student loan borrowers by subjecting them to late fees even when they'd paid on time, and not fixing the wrong data they'd sent to credit agencies.
In May this year, a subsidiary called Wells Fargo Advisors said it would pay $7 million after the US Securities and Exchange commission alleged that it didn't properly flag close to three dozen suspicious activity reports.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an office within the Treasury Department, hit Wells Fargo with $1 billion in penalties over its practices.
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