$25.7 Million Wells Fargo Inspection Fee Settlement Shows Banks Can’t Overcharge Borrowers

A $25.7 million Wells Fargo inspection fee settlement benefited more than two million homeowners who allegedly were overcharged for repeated property inspections.

Wells Fargo and the homeowners reached a settlement in 2015 after a seven-year argument regarding allegations that the bank violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) when it ordered multiple property inspections and hid the actual reasons for the charges that appeared on the statements of delinquent homeowners.

Since the Wells Fargo inspection fee settlement, multiple mortgage lenders are under investigation for charging homeowners for unnecessary, numerous property inspections or broker price opinions (BPOs) and hiding these charges as miscellaneous or other unidentifiable fees on mortgage statements.

What is a BPO?

When a homeowner becomes delinquent in mortgage payments, the bank can order a property inspection to make sure the home is maintained and occupied. The bank requests a broker price opinion to determine a ballpark figure of how much the home is worth at the given time in case the home goes into foreclosure, forcing a sale.

Of course, the homeowner does not benefit from the securing of a broker price opinion, but that doesn’t stop the bank from charging the homeowner for the service. Many banks allegedly charge excessive and hidden fees to hide from the homeowner that he is paying for something that will benefit the bank.

In the Wells Fargo inspection fee settlement, the bank tried to argue that their policy of ordering repeated property inspections was necessary to ensure the homes the bank had invested in were still in good condition and occupied. Wells Fargo also allegedly tried to argue that the bank could have been fined if such property inspections were not completed on a frequent basis.

The delinquent homeowners insisted the continuous inspections were not warranted and only served to boost the bank’s bottom line.

The $25.7 million Wells Fargo inspection fee settlement includes those who had a mortgage serviced by Wells Fargo and owed or paid a property inspection fee that was assessed between Aug. 1, 2004 and Dec. 31, 2013.

Terms of Wells Fargo Inspection Fee Settlement

According to the Wells Fargo inspection fee settlement website, “The lawsuit claims that Wells Fargo improperly ordered a property inspection whenever a borrower fell behind on mortgage payments by forty-five days or more, and then ordered subsequent inspections every twenty-five to thirty-five days for as long as the borrower remained delinquent.”

Borrowers said the repeated inspections were not necessary and that they should not have been forced to pay for them. The borrowers also said the charges were labeled “Other Charges” on their mortgage statements in an alleged effort to conceal the true nature of the imposed fees.

Even though Wells Fargo denied all of the claims in the lawsuit and admitted no wrongdoing, the bank agreed to the inspection fee settlement.

Other banks currently under investigation for possibly charging excessive inspection fees are Caliber Home Loans, Flagstar, Freedom Mortgage, LoanDepot, Quicken Loans and U.S. Bank.

If you have been charged excessive property inspection fees or broker price opinion fees, especially if the true nature of the fees was hidden from you, you could be eligible to participate in this lawsuit investigation.

Join a Free Property Inspection & Broker Price Opinion Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were in default on your mortgage in the last three years with one of the following banks, you may qualify to join this property inspection fee class action lawsuit investigation:

• Caliber Home Loans
• Flagstar
• Freedom Mortgage
• LoanDepot
• Quicken Loans
• U.S. Bank

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