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LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

Wells Fargo Ordered to Pay $203M in Overdraft Fees Class Action Settlement


This is a settlement for the lawsuit.

San Francisco, CA: US District Judge William Alsup has issued an order to reinstate a $203 million judgment against Wells Fargo Bank. The judgment is based upon the court's findings, as affirmed on appeal by the Ninth Circuit, that Wells Fargo violated California's unfair competition law by deceiving its customers that debit card purchases would be posted chronologically to their accounts when in fact Wells Fargo posted them in a high-to-low order for the sole purpose of generating overdraft fees.

The case before Judge Alsup was brought on behalf of California Wells Fargo customers who, from November 15, 2004 to June 30, 2008, incurred overdraft fees on debit card transactions as a result of the bank's practice of sequencing transactions from highest to lowest.

On August 10, 2010, Judge Alsup issued a 90-page opinion finding that Wells Fargo manipulated its processing of customer debit card purchases by its California customers, and made misleading statements to consumers regarding is resequencing practice, to maximize overdraft fees in violation of California's Unfair Competition Law. This practice had the greatest impact on the bank's low income customers because their accounts often had the smallest balances.

As noted above, instead of posting transaction chronologically, Wells Fargo deducted the largest charges first, drawing down available balances more rapidly and triggering a higher volume of overdraft fees. Judge Alsup ordered that Wells Fargo return to its customers approximately $203 million in restitution and enjoined the abusive accounting practices. Judge Alsup's August 10, 2010, decision followed two and half years of extended litigation that culminated in a two-week bench trial which ended in May 2010.

On September 9, 2010, Wells Fargo filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On December 26, 2012, the appellate court issued an opinion upholding and reversing portions of Judge Alsup's order, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.

The appellate court found the National Bank Act preempted application of state law to Wells Fargo's decision to use high-to-low posting. Importantly, the appellate court also found that false and misleading statements by Wells Fargo were not preempted and the bank could be held liable for affirmative misrepresentations in violation of California's Unfair Competition Law.

In his decision, Judge Alsup reinstated the judgment against Wells Fargo, finding: "This order is not penalizing Wells Fargo for a practice protected by federal preemption. Instead, it is penalizing Wells Fargo for affirmatively misleading the class as to what the practice was, namely engaging in a practice likely to mislead the class to believe that processing would be done in chronological order when, in fact, processing was done in high-to-low, non-chronological order."

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Published on May-16-13


READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
I WAS CHARGED OVEDRAFT SOME MANY TIMES BY WELLFARGO

Posted by

on
wells fargo again is charging 35$ overdraft feed
and with the excuse they use the back gave you 24 hr to make a deposit, but also online they send a extra grace day to make any deposit if you dont make a deposit that extra day dont matter they start charging the overdraft feed since day one so at the end never give you the oportunity to make the deposit..

Posted by

on
I was also involved in the excessive $35 overdraft charges from Wells Fargo dozens of times. How do I pursue this?

Posted by

on
I have thousands of dollars of overdraft fees. My deposits were delayed by the bank in order to charge overdraft fees. On $12 I was charged $70 for no reason, the money was there in the bank on the books and I was told we will waive the fees this ONE time after I complained to sue. I have all my bank statements to prove the scam this bank was running for years because I knew I wasn't the only one they were doing this to.. There system is once deposits are made projected fees are taken off the top and whatever is left will be applied to pay what was pending transactions which should have been paid before the fees were charged. It is all in timing and the app used by the bank. WF see transactions as $ signs by charging overdraft fees. Is it too late because I definitely was with them 2008-10. Pick a year and I have it.

Posted by

on
I had overdraft fees in 2007-8 and was forced to close the account the fees were ridiculous and I just noticed here that they were sued , i think it sad people dont find out until later they were wronged and never notified , i think it should be a responsibility for companies to divulge thier information as to listing the names of account holders and give them an opportunity to join.if not companies still are getting away with it..bottom line the little people make them rich and the big corporations do what they want and screw the little people.

Posted by

on
fees and overdrafts are excessive

Posted by

on
Wells Fargo took 100s of dollars out of my account in fees

Posted by

on
I was a few cents short on an item that was $4.29. It kept coming and the bank could have notified me but instead let the overdraft fee's add up to an unbelievable $555! Help me get it back. My income is ssi.

Posted by

on
please add me, how do I pursue it?

Posted by

on
I was with wells fargo for numerous years i experianced tremendous amounts of overdraft fees as well as accounts opened. Under my name without my concent which really messed ul my credit as well as made me go through bad hardship also i figured out that wells fargo gave a loan out to someone the reason i found out was bcause i got a mailed letter from a dept collector telling me there was a private loan given to someone under my name i have proof that i i did not do such thing i need to have someone call me for advicce i blieve i should bbe compinsated for all i been through for years please contact me at (520)270-xxxx.

Posted by

on
I believe I may be entitled to some of the class action lawsuit settlement against Wells Fargo. I was a Wells Fargo client in the early 2000s and then again starting in 2016.. how do I find out if I am first of all entitled to some of this money and second of all how do I or where do I sign up for either legal representation or where can I obtain information to receive my portion of the class action lawsuit and any other Financial settlement that I have not been able to obtain yet.

Posted by

on
I e been with WF since 2012 but until last year I've had issues. I follow the WF app to see what posted and what's pending. I just start to notice how certain fees get added on. I had a check out and was returned bank for NSF and they charged me 3 times OV fee on the specific item. This was Dec 2018 and than another auto fee for cable came on one time and was charge the $35 OV fee a day later hit my account again n was charged again another $35. This month in Jan 2019 I had direct deposit hit my account I was negative by around $400 plus and after it hit I was at $374.00 avail everything on the app in regards to fee and payment already had posted. I withdrawn $370 and now they are charging me again $35 fee because of the long weekend I was technically like the SF rep said $332 and change. Since last month to half this month I've WF has collect almost $400 of recurring over draft fees over n over specially on the same amounts they allow to hit my account 2-4 times just so they can collect more fees. HELP PLEASE. I'm very guat rated and can't seem to get help from them at all. Not right what this bank does.

Posted by

on
I've been a customer of wellsfargo 2008 to 2010 had a lot of overdraft fees. Complaint about it had the fee waived i think twice then started paying the fees till i closed the account.how can i be part of this ?

Posted by

on
I believe this occurred with me. How do I pursue it?

Posted by

on
How do I get in on this class action lawsuit, hell I have a business account with Wells Fargo and the have caused me many headaches with overdraft fee and they know they are wrong and still want admit it.

Posted by

on
I believe I should be part of this lawsuit how do I pursue it

Posted by

on
This is still happening. Just last week I moved money into savings and to draw some cash out of account. I looked at my account on line and the next morning a charge came thru that was not even pending and resulted in overdraft charges for the 40 I cashed. I complained but they did nothing. Would love to sue them again if anyone interested. They obviously have not learned from their past practices and the previous class action suit has had no effect on their methods.

Posted by

on
Hello,i have direct deposit to wells fargo onces they charge me 5 overdraft fee I was left with almost none of my paycheck ,it was a 1 dollar purchase so they approved a few more transaction if I overdraft ones they new I had no money so they left my account open to charge me overdraft fee over n over
so toll the bank if I have 1 dollar in my account that's all I could waist .do not leave my account open !!!

Posted by

on
Wells Fargo customer who is part of Wells Fargo overdraft fees lawsuit.

Posted by

on
Hello I'm a costumer of well fargo since 2001 from California,I have a way2save accound, premier checking, and 2 times accounds. Please tell me how to proceed...Thank you!!!

Posted by

on
in 2015, I opened a Visa Secured account where I had to use my own money as collateral to use their Visa card, ( Wells Fargo Visa), I was told after a year as long as I kept my account in good standing I would be given an unsecured Visa and my deposit would be refunded...they lied! After a year +, they did not give me a refund or an unsecured Visa! Meanwhile, I applied with another bank which gave me a Visa with a $2000.00 limit! So, I feel there was deception on Wells Fargo's part. I was really disappointed in them.

Posted by

on
I told "Jasmine" 2 months ago to close my account.

I am being charged OD charges ond being told they have paid things to this date Jan 12, 2017!

I had my Direct Deposit stopped.

Posted by

on
We have auto deposit and every mo there is $400 to $ 500 in overdrafts. They changed the order of charges to have the larger charge first get deposited. Has even withheld the charge for a day or two giving you a false balance if you check it on line. I have a statement that shows Wells Fargo charging me a OD fee with a positive balance. Wells Fargo also randomly transfers savings to checking using up your one a month OD protection for free to charge $12.50 the next time. In one year, (2015 to 2016) because of Identity theft had to change to another Acct (4 in 2 Years). Wells Fargo charged over $4000.00 just in fees. We are on SSI and only have $900 a mo coming in. Today on Xmas we lost the this fight and our house. Today's balance is -$504.00 without a gift to the kids bought. One bank reported making around $6 Billion on OD fees in one year by stealing from the poor. If you made $6 billion just in fees for 1 year and got a penalty of $200 million after 6 years in court, Would you stop doing that practice if you got away with $35.8 billion clean and clear? Quit thinking that $200 million was something large in scale. It's big to all of us but only a very small percent. think of it like this $200 out of $36,000.00. Way to sell us short.....

Posted by

on
i had wells fargo a while back charged me a arm and a leg in overdraft fees plz tell me how to proceed

Posted by

on
THIS WAS DONE TO ME ALSO,WITH OUT MY CONSENT.I WAS SERVERLY CHARGED FOR OVER DRAFT PROTECTION ......

Posted by

on
I had open an account with them and they repeatedly subtracted sums of money from my accounts. I called them so many times I finally gave up as by then all my money was gone. I took sick and ........... I just saw where lawsuits against Well Fargo.I would like to ask if I can be reimbursed for all the money taken.

Posted by

on
Had an account from 2008 until 2015, never heard about a lawsuit. But not sure if anything is owed.

Posted by

on
I had closed and account at a branch or thought the account was closed but they continued to withdraw money every 6 months to the account that was 'overdrawn' for a 'set off' even though it was closed and did not appear on any of my statements. I have been a customer of Wells Fargo for over 18 years and also did not get any information about an of the class action lawsuits, can we file something since I have read a few of the comments and have the same thing happen to them?

Posted by

on
This is continuing to happen to me today, even if I put money in they do the charge before my money deposit. Also they chronological order is always off.

Posted by

on
I was charged $6230.00 in overdraft fees from PNC bank in 2015, Do I have any recourse on this?

Posted by

on
Overdraft fees are not a good thing when its not even fair due to your mistakes.

Posted by

on
Experienced the same thing as Gail above in the state of TX in one day they over drafted me 9 times. At one point I closed or thought the account was closed but they continued to withdraw money.

Posted by

on
My boyfriend had an account with Wells Fargo back in 2012-2013, we had similar issues with his account . It was like everytime we turned around we had a negative balance from that overdraft trick. we were never notified of a class action suit. We have moved a few times and during moving we don't usually hang on to paperwork for long. So what do we do on this to be part of the suut.

Posted by

on
I was a Wells Fargo Banking Customer from 2006-2010 and was never notified of this lawsuit, nor did I receive a check. Was there a certain year that you had to be a customer in order to be apart of this lawsuit?

Posted by

on
If you feel you have been cheated at least $200 by your bank or credit union, write a letter and include evidence and send it to: U.S. Treasury, Comptroller of the Currency---Google for the rest of the address.

Posted by

on
Hi,
I believe I should be a oart of this law suit.
How do I pursuit it?

Posted by

on
I have been a customer of Wells Fargo since 2008. Why was I not notified of this. Are all Wells Fargo customers who have been with them on or before 2008 included? Also Wells Fargo has continued to reorganize purchases using different excuses up to and including last month. They always reorganize and hit the small amounts with overdrafts 3 or 4 even though the small items were charged first and the large amount last. When forced to give up time stamp on the actual charges they change their story. They have their employees well trained. Most of them you can get a few to slip up in the story but then a supervisor gets on, apologizes for the miss information and gives you the story that is in their best interest. It's amazing

Posted by

on
Is not only WF it's every Bank and credit union. They use the same tactics and manipulate deposits and withdrawals at will and overdraft fees pile up. I was recently charged $25.00 each for two deposits (0.33 and another for $0.49) made on my account not honored by my CU because they claim I had defaulted on my LOC and my money in the account could not be used for deposits or withdrawals. It's mind boggling on how they can away with this!

Posted by

on
About time they are always doing this to me

Posted by

on
I can relate to everyone above and this situation. Not only have I tried our local bank and the 1-800 number of Wells Fargo both being met with hostility and rudeness and to the point of them calling me a deadbeat. I am wondering if anybody who reads this knows of any ongoing class action suit regarding their overuse of fees and manipulation of accounts. This is published in February 2016 thank you very much for any help you can offer.

Posted by

on
We've had numerous overdraft fees.

Posted by

on
About time! They did this to me repeatedly, in TEXAS and also , after refunding a disputed withdrawal, finding in my favor, they waited until I wrote checks against the refund THEY GAVE ME BASED ON MY CLAIM, THEN SUDDENLY, WITH NO NOTICE, WITHDREW IT AGAIN, CAUSING MY ACCOUNT TO BE OVERDRAWN AND THEN CHARGED A TON OF FEES FOR THAT!! WHEN I ASKED WHY, THEY SAID THEY CHANGED THEIR MINDS ABOUT THE CLAIM THEY APPROVED. TOTAL DELIBERATE CRAP! I COULD HAVE PAID IT OFF (197 $$ TOTAL) A HUNDRED TIMES BY NOW, BUT REFUS3D TO ON PRINCIPAL. I WILL NEVER USE THAT CROOKED BANK AGAIN! THE ORDER I WROTE CH3CKS NEVER OVERDRAFTED ME, BECAUSE I ALWAYS PUT IN ENOUGH TO COVER THINGS, BUT THEY TOOK HIGHEST AMOUNT FIRST AND DEPOSITS ADDED LAST, SO I WAS OVERDRAWN QUITE A FEW TIMES...ALL IN TEXAS, BACK IN 2001 TO 2002. STILL ANGRY OVER THAT CRAP!

Posted by

on
Wells Fargo charged me close to $2000.00 in overdraft fees

Posted by

on
Manipulating processing of my debit card purchases, as they did in the California lawsuit. Drawing down available balances rapidly, triggering high volumes of overdraft fees, creating more overdraft fees by generating them against a low balance.

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