Wells Fargo Class Action Challenges Excessive Mortgage Fees

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Embattled bank, Wells Fargo, was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it charged mortgage holders extra fees by falsely accusing them of forgetting paperwork.

Lead plaintiff Victor Muniz alleges in his class action lawsuit that Wells Fargo gave him a quote for a 30-year fixed interest rate mortgage at 5.875 percent. However, Wells Fargo allegedly delayed his paperwork and then charged him a $287.50 fee when the bank missed the deadline.

To further complicate matters, Muniz says a Wells Fargo employee told him the fee would be waived because the delay was the bank’s fault, but that decision was overruled by a manager the next day.

Wells Fargo has also been battling litigation over the creation of alleged fake accounts that resulted in the departure of their CEO.

“Predictably, perpetrating this scheme caused extreme stress to Wells Fargo employees, whose job it was to explain to frustrated customers why they were being charged a fee through no fault of their own,” says the class action complaint. “Employee stress caused by pressure to perform unscrupulous practices was also a hallmark of Wells Fargo’s sham account scandal, and more generally is an indicator of corporate malfeasance.”

Those seeking a mortgage will be given a quote on the interest rate that is “locked” until a certain date, says the plaintiff. The sale of the home and loan must be completed by the date for the mortgage holder to receive the rate promised by the lender. Lenders charge a fee if the mortgage holder misses the deadline, but usually do not charge a fee if the lender is at fault for missing the deadline.

According to the class action lawsuit, Wells Fargo has been perpetrating a rate lock scam where the bank holds up the mortgage and then forces the mortgage holder to pay a fee to ensure the sale of the house they wish to own. Two former Wells Fargo employees confirm the scam, says the plaintiff, along with online comments and complaints to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

In online posts, says the Wells Fargo class action, mortgage holders complain of being charged several thousand dollars in fees by Wells Fargo for rate lock extensions that were needed because of the bank’s delays.

Muniz also alleges that in a report by ProPublica, a Wells Fargo employee explained that the bank is “just stealing from people” using rate lock extension fees.

The plaintiff is seeking to represent a nationwide Class of people who obtained a Wells Fargo Mortgage or refinanced their mortgage though the bank and were charged fees for a rate lock extension because of delays on the bank’s part.

The plaintiff is seeking damages as well as court orders declaring Wells Fargo’s actions unlawful and stopping the bank from such practices.

Muniz is represented by Matthew J. Preusch, Derek Loeser and Gretchen Freeman Cappio of Keller Rohrback LLP.

The Wells Fargo Mortgage Rate Lock Scam Class Action Lawsuit is Muniz v. Wells Fargo & Co., et al., Case No. 4:17-­cv-­04995, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.