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
If you are a Wells Fargo customer and have been charged an overdraft fee within the past year, you could be eligible to join this FREE Wells Fargo overdraft fee arbitration investigation.
See if you qualify by filling out the form on this page.
This article is not legal advice. It is presented for informational purposes only.
See If You Qualify
Join a Free Wells Fargo overdraft lawsuit investigation
By submitting your information, you agree to receive communications from Top Class Actions and to be contacted by an attorney or law firm or their agents to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
sign me up
Sign me up
Sign me up. Wells Fargo is my bank and I have received letters on Allan that I never had amongst other things.
Yes sign me up since I am a Wells Fargo account holder and have been charged OD fees and late fees throughout the 17 years being a loyal customer!
Please sign me up wellsfargo is my bank and they do stick you with overdraft payments
Wells Fargo is always charging overdraft fees and never except any kind of a fraud claim even when it’s quite obvious and it’s all over the Internet I just don’t understand please sign me up this has been going on for years
Please sing me up. Thank you.
I had Wells Fargo and those fees were unbelievable! I’m pretty good with my money, but my account seemed to stay negative. I ended up closing the account after having it for about a year.
I was getting letters from. Wells Fargo saying I borrowed a loan and owed them but I have never
I have been charged late fees at least twice this year.
Wells Fargo has been denying fraudulent claims for me and charging me fees for the 20 something years I’ve had the account with them