Wells Fargo may take advantage of consumers through unfair overdraft policies, according to class action lawsuits.
Unfair overdraft fees: Overview
Overdraft fees are charged as a part of overdraft protection programs offered through banks and credit unions such as Wells Fargo. In return for allowing transactions to “overdraft” their account, consumers pay their bank an overdraft fee. This fee may put their account further in the negative but allows consumers to use their bank account despite having a negative balance. Consumers can only be charged overdraft fees if they have opted into their bank’s overdraft protection program.
Several banks and credit unions face legal action as a result of allegedly unfair overdraft fee practices. Some banks have been accused of charging multiple overdraft fees on a single transaction due to subsequent attempts to clear a transaction. Others have been accused of reordering transactions in order to maximize the number of fees charged during transaction processing. Oftentimes, consumers say that they were not given all the necessary information about a bank’s overdraft policies when opting into overdraft protection. This may result in surprise overdraft fees.
In the face of customer scrutiny, big banks such as Wells Fargo are reducing or entirely eliminating their overdraft fees. However, this does not change the fact that consumers may have fallen victim to banks’ unfair overdraft fees in the past. Consumers may still have a legal claim against Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo overdraft class action lawsuit
Unfortunately, Wells Fargo may have a history of taking advantage of customers through unfair bank fees.
In 2010, Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $203 million in a class action verdict. The verdict was reached in a class action lawsuit claiming that the bank misled customers about overdraft fees. Plaintiffs in the case accused the company of reordering transactions in order to charge overdraft fees on multiple transactions.
In 2017, one Wells Fargo customer took legal action against the bank for its allegedly predatory overdraft fee policies. The plaintiff in the case says that he was charged multiple overdraft fees on transactions despite never opting into Wells Fargo’s overdraft protection program.
The source of this issue was an Uber transaction, the plaintiff contends. According to the class action lawsuit, Wells Fargo should have treated his Uber ride as a one-time transaction and not authorized it based on insufficient funds. Instead, Wells Fargo allegedly took advantage of the situation by authorizing the transaction. This allowed the bank to charge multiple overdraft fees on other transactions known at the time of authorization, the Wells Fargo customer claims. According to the Wells Fargo class action lawsuit, these fees violated the bank’s account agreements.
In 2021, Wells Fargo agreed to pay over $10 million to put these allegations to rest. Although Wells Fargo resolved this class action lawsuit, consumers could still take action against the company for other unfair overdraft fees.
Join a Wells Fargo overdraft fees class action lawsuit investigation
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This article is not legal advice. It is presented for informational purposes only.
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I’m looking for a lawyer or a class action suit for this EXACT situation, but with Exchange Bank. When I signed up for my account years ago, I didn’t opt into the overdraft program, but yet they have used it for every little thing, at $32 for each charge! I have multiple in the same days, and this has been happening for years! When I check my account, my balance looks good, but 2 weeks later, I’m looking at I have tons of overdraft charges for purchases that were fine the day I made them! Any ideas on who I should talk to?
Over the course of 2023, my business account with Wells Fargo was CONSTANTLY being charged again and again! I complained and they would deny any wrong doing. I wrote emails, went into the branch for meetings with their upper management, all to no avail.
Absolutely Wells Fargo charges unfair and excessive overdraft fees. I shared an account with my daughter, every time I turned around her account was overdrawn sometimes BECAUSE of the fees they’d charge and even though I kept transferring funds to help her cover college expenses and could see what she was spending, the fees they’d hit her with were unfair and insane. She had issues with her paycheck not depositing on time which was an issue from her former job (thankfully she finally left and got a better one). The fees were sometimes 3 or 4 fees for the same single issue. She no longer uses Wells Fargo. I still do, but only because that’s how the alimony payment from my ex is transferred. He uses some small bank in Texas and they claim they can’t automatically deposit/transfer funds to a credit union which is my primary bank now. Once the alimony ends in another 2 years, so will my business with Wells Fargo. Awful company.
I’m trying to find out if I’m able to receive Any information as IT relates to a lawsuit again Wells Fargo. My husband and I tried refinancing our mortgage several years and never had any luck. Our credit was good and we’d never missed a mortgage payment yet we never had the opportunity to refinance. We finally went with another company in 2021 and finally got our mortgage under $100,000 just recently yet all the years we were with WF the amount never changed