Tag Archives: Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo reaches $3 billion settlement with DOJ, SEC over fake-accounts scandal

Feb. 21, 2020 – Renae Merle, Washington Post – Wells Fargo agreed Friday to pay $3 billion to settle potential federal criminal and civil charges that, for more than a decade, the bank’s aggressive sales goals led to widespread consumer abuses, including millions of accounts opened without … Read More ›

National General Insurance/Wells Fargo: California Consumer Group Files Petition to Reject Auto Insurance Rate, Investigate Fraud and Collusion

The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) filed a petition today with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) opposing an application by National General Insurance for a 6.9% increase in premiums for certain vehicle policies. Acting under Proposition 103, the CFC asked CDI to investigate National General’s automobile … Read More ›

Legislation introduced to address Wells Fargo scandal

“Wells Fargo’s customers were ripped off twice,” said Richard Holober, Executive Director of Consumer Federation of California. “First, the bank created two million fraudulent accounts. Then when consumers tried to sue, the bank forced them into company-dominated arbitration hearings. SB 33 will guarantee that the victims of a bank’s identity theft will get their day in court.” Read More ›

Wells Fargo To Pay $185 million Settlement For ‘Outrageous’ Sales Culture

by James Rufus Koren, Los Angeles Times

Calling it “outrageous” and “a major breach of trust,” local and federal regulators hammered Wells Fargo & Co. for a pervasive culture of aggressive sales goals that pushed thousands of workers to open as many as 2 million accounts that bank customers never wanted. Read More ›

Wells Fargo Identity Theft Racket Inspired SB 33 (Dodd): Justice for Victims

October 4 Update: Jerry Brown signed SB 33 into law. The Consumer Federation of California is co-sponsoring legislation by State Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) inspired by Wells Fargo’s fraudulent creation of two million customer accounts. Senate Bill 33 will make sure that in the future, victims of … Read More ›

Wells Fargo Must Pay $203M To Customers After Supreme Court Rejection

by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist

In 2010, the judge in the case ordered the bank to pay the $203 million to customers of Wells Fargo who were affected by the overdraft policy between Nov. 2004 and June 2008. … At issue in the appeal to the Supreme Court was whether or not previous courts were right to certify the class action even though the class included individuals who were not harmed by the company’s conduct — in this case Wells Fargo allegedly making misleading statements to checking account customers about how their transactions would be posted and the likelihood that an overdraft would result. Read More ›

Wells Fargo To Pay $8.5 Million In Privacy Case, None To Victims

by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle

[Penal Code sections 632 and 632.7] make it illegal to record phone conversations without the consent of all parties. Violators can be fined up to $2,500 per call or imprisoned in a county jail. … “This is very different from the kinds of settlements I have seen brought by private attorneys representing consumers” in class-action cases alleging violations of California’s eavesdropping law, said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California. “In those kinds of lawsuits, individual class members typically can receive hundreds or thousands of dollars if they submit a claim. This involves zero recovery by individual class members.” Read More ›

Wells Fargo To Pay $1.2 Billion Over Bad Government-Backed Mortgages

by ff, Los Angeles Times

If approved by a federal judge, the settlement would close the books on a 2012 lawsuit that the government filed against the bank over bad loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. … Between 2001 and 2005, prosecutors said, the bank issued thousands of FHA loans that did not meet the program’s requirements, which include minimum incomes and credit scores for borrowers. They also said that from 2002 to 2010, the bank violated federal reporting requirements by keeping problem loans under wraps and collecting insurance payouts when loans went bad. Read More ›

Oakland Sues Wells Fargo For Predatory Lending Against City’s Black, Hispanic Residents

by Mike Blasky, Oakland Tribune

ill of mortgage lender and family

City Attorney Barbara Parker said the bank targeted minority borrowers — including churches — for predatory mortgage loans in violation of the Fair Housing Act and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. … Parker on Tuesday said no bankers were held personally responsible for the foreclosure crisis, which in part forced Oakland to lay off 80 Oakland officers in 2010 and make drastic cuts to other departments. Read More ›

L.A. Sues Wells Fargo, Alleging ‘Unlawful And Fraudulent Conduct’

by E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times

The civil complaint, filed Monday in state court in Los Angeles by City Atty. Mike Feuer, says the largest California-based bank encouraged its employees to engage “in unfair, unlawful and fraudulent conduct” through a pervasive culture of high-pressure sales. Employees misused customers’ confidential information and often failed to close unauthorized accounts even when customers complained, the suit alleges. … In addition to charging fees on unwanted accounts, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo harmed customers by placing them into collections based on unauthorized withdrawals and reported damaging information on their credit reports … Read More ›