Wells Fargo Expands Class-Action Settlement for Retail Sales Practices to $142 Million, Adds Accounts as Early as May 2002
April 21 2017 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced the
expansion of its class-action settlement for retail sales practices
(announced on March 28) to include any customers who were impacted
by sales practice issues as early as May 2002. The updated
settlement will add $32 million to the previous agreement for
a total settlement amount of $142 million.
“The expansion of this agreement is another important step to
make things right for our customers,” said Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo’s
President and Chief Executive Officer. “On our journey to rebuild
trust, we want to ensure our customers feel confident that we have
heard their concerns about retail sales practices, which includes
offering them numerous opportunities for remediation. We encourage
any customer with concerns or questions about their accounts to
contact us.”
The settlement builds on ongoing remediation efforts Wells Fargo
is pursuing for customers who may have been impacted by sales
practice issues. The company is working directly with customers to
resolve issues through its complaints process. In addition, if
Wells Fargo is unable to resolve issues directly, customers who
believe they received a product or service they did not want or
authorize are offered a free mediation service with an independent
third-party mediator.
Wells Fargo has submitted the class-action settlement agreement
and summary of claims process in the Northern District of
California (Jabbari v. Wells Fargo, N.A., et al.) to settle the
lawsuit concerning retail sales practices. The updated settlement
agreement takes into account findings from the Sales Practices
Investigation conducted by the independent board directors of Wells
Fargo (released on April 10). The settlement class now will consist
of all customers who claim that Wells Fargo opened an account in
their name without consent, enrolled them in a product or service
without consent, or submitted an application for a product or
service in their name without consent during the period from May 1,
2002, through April 20, 2017.
Wells Fargo expects this settlement to resolve claims in 11
other pending class actions that unauthorized accounts were opened
in customers’ names or that customers were enrolled in products or
services without their consent.
After attorneys’ fees and costs of administration, the $142
million settlement will provide three forms of compensation for
settlement class members: reimbursement of fees incurred,
compensation for damage to credit caused by the opening of
unauthorized accounts at Wells Fargo, and after repayment of fee
damages and credit impact damages, additional compensation paid
from the Net Settlement Fund.
Customers who were charged fees in connection with unused,
unauthorized accounts from January 1, 2009, through April 20, 2017,
will be eligible to receive fee reimbursement in the amount of the
actual fees they were charged as determined by the settlement
administrator. If a customer was charged fees related to an
unauthorized account from May 1, 2002, through December 31, 2008,
he or she will receive a flat-rate fee reimbursement that will be
based on the average of fees paid out to those who file claims for
the Jan. 1, 2009 – April 20, 2017 period.
Remediation Efforts Continue
This settlement is in addition to other remediation efforts that
Wells Fargo continues to pursue. To date, Wells Fargo has refunded
approximately $3.2 million to customers under the stipulated
judgment with the Los Angeles City Attorney and the CFPB and OCC
consent orders, covering the period 2011 - 2016.
To make things right with customers who were impacted by sales
practices issues, Wells Fargo also is conducting its own voluntary
review of accounts from 2009 – 2010 to determine and remediate any
customer harm.
Customers should contact Wells Fargo directly if they believe
they had an unauthorized account or service opened in their name,
by visiting a branch or calling 1-877-924-8697.
Next Steps
The settlement agreement must be approved by the court. If the
court grants preliminary approval of the settlement agreement, a
notice will be issued providing information concerning the process
for making claims, and customers who believe they should be
included in this suit will be able to submit claims. The court also
will need to grant final approval of the settlement before payments
will be made to class members. In the meantime, customers do not
need to take any action; however, as always, they are encouraged to
contact Wells Fargo to discuss any account issues.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified,
community-based financial services company with $2.0 trillion in
assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells
Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and
consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,500 locations,
13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and
has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers
who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately
273,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in
the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on
Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells
Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and
help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from
Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements about our
future financial performance and business. Because forward-looking
statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions
regarding the future, they are subject to inherent risks and
uncertainties. Do not unduly rely on forward-looking statements as
actual results could differ materially from expectations.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we
do not undertake to update them to reflect changes or events that
occur after that date. For information about factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations,
refer to our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, as
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on
its website at www.sec.gov.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170421005325/en/
Wells Fargo & CompanyMedia contactsJim Seitz,
612-316-2447jim.seitz@wellsfargo.comorMary Eshet,
704-383-7777Mary.eshet@wellsfargo.comInvestor RelationsJim
Rowe, 415-396-8216Jim.rowe@wellsfargo.com
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