Growth in auto lending and credit cards lifted Wells Fargo’s consumer revenue in the third quarter and helped net income come in slightly above analysts’ expectations. The bank also forecast fourth-quarter net interest income of $13 billion, while weaker trading gains and fee-related revenue highlighted a split in its results. Shares fell 3.1%.
Consumer revenue rises 5% as card openings top 660,000
Wells Fargo reported on October 13 that third-quarter net income was $5.95 billion, or $1.87 per diluted share, above the $1.85 analysts had expected. Consumer banking revenue reached $10.7 billion—nearly half of the bank’s $21.9 billion in total revenue—and rose 5% from the same period in 2025.
Chairman and Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said the bank’s consumer and business customers remained in good overall shape. The number of primary checking accounts continued to grow, more than 660,000 new credit card accounts were opened during the quarter, and auto loan originations increased 15% year over year. Debit card spending and average auto loan balances also posted double-digit growth, while credit card loans rose 5.5%.
The figures point to resilient spending across income groups, even as inflation persists, interest rates remain elevated and consumer confidence is uneven. Momentum has strengthened heading into the holiday season. Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said wage growth was supporting spending, particularly among the lower-income customers Wells Fargo serves, whose wages have generally kept pace with inflation. He said consumers should remain able to manage higher prices and the accumulated impact of past inflation as long as the labor market holds up.
Delinquencies ease, but employment remains a key factor
As of September 30, Wells Fargo had $2.9 billion in consumer loans that were past due and no longer accruing interest, down 8.4% from a year earlier. On the analyst call, Scharf said he expected consumer credit conditions to weaken “at some point,” but had not yet seen signs of that deterioration.
JPMorgan Chase’s third-quarter results, also released that day, showed $1.98 billion in net charge-offs in its Consumer & Community Banking business, broadly unchanged from the same period in 2025. TD Cowen analyst Scott Siefers said consumer resilience was keeping credit quality generally stable. He noted that issues in areas such as commercial real estate and non-bank financial institutions had not yet translated into broad-based stress.
Rising household financial vulnerability, persistent inflation and higher interest rates remain concerns for markets. Wells Fargo management’s current assessment of credit quality rests largely on continued support from employment and wage trends.
Wells Fargo sees fourth-quarter net interest income at $13 billion
Net interest income rose about 5% year over year to $12.5 billion in the third quarter. Santomassimo forecast $13 billion for the fourth quarter and said the bank was on track to meet its $50 billion full-year target for 2026. Jefferies analyst David Chiaverini calculated that a $13 billion quarterly run rate would equal about $52 billion on an annualized basis, above his forecast for Wells Fargo in 2027.
Average loans and average deposits both grew 11% year over year, to $1.03 trillion and $1.48 trillion, respectively. Revenue from wealth management and investment banking also increased. But fee-related results were mixed: net trading gains fell 21% year over year, while total noninterest income declined 1.4% to $9.35 billion.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy described the quarter as solid, while Chiaverini called the overall results mixed and pointed to softer fee income. Wells Fargo shares closed Tuesday at $80.74, down 3.1%, as the weaker noninterest revenue weighed on the stock.