Wells Fargo class action overview:
- Who: Wells Fargo is facing a class action lawsuit regarding overdraft fees.
- Why: Wells Fargo did not provide customers proper notification about its overdraft fees, the lawsuit claims.
- Where: The Wells Fargo lawsuit was filed in federal court in California.
A new Wells Fargo class action lawsuit claims the company did not provide customers with proper notification about overdraft fees.
Customers are supposed to provide written consent for overdraft fees, but Wells Fargo had employees read an unscripted summary of the fees and then opted in the customers if they gave a verbal affirmation, the Wells Fargo lawsuit claims.
According to the lawsuit, Wells Fargo’s practices violate Federal Reserve regulations; all of the bank’s overdraft fees charged to customers who opted in before May 2022 are therefore illegal, the class action argues.
Wells Fargo class action says company has history of ‘troubling’ overdraft practices
Wells Fargo has a “long and documented history of troubling overdraft practices,” according to the class action.
In 2012, the lawsuit notes, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed a $203 million judgment against Wells Fargo over claims the bank misrepresented its overdraft practices. The judgment included an injunction against the bank misrepresenting its process for transactions related to overdraft services, the lawsuit says.
Wells Fargo also makes it virtually impossible for customers to resolve their claims of illegal overdraft practices, the class action says.
The Wells Fargo overdraft rules require complainants to go into an individualized arbitration process, but the company has instead forced complainants into mass arbitration “in which the success or failure of their claims was tied to the claims of thousands of other Wells Fargo accountholders,” the lawsuit says.
The process arbitrator also imposed onerous pleading requirements, which caused the dismissal of many claims and led the plaintiffs to file the class action. The requirements were not in the arbitration rules or law, the lawsuit claims.
Apple Federal Credit Union is accused of unlawfully assessing $29 overdraft fees on debit card transactions authorized on sufficient funds, a class action lawsuit from May 2023 alleges.
Have you been charged Wells Fargo overdraft fees? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Richard D. McCune, Steven A. Haskins, Valerie L. Savran and Emily J. Kirk of McCune Law Group.
The Wells Fargo class action lawsuit is Penuela, et al. v. Wells Fargo NA, et al., Case No. 5:23-cv-00883, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
- US Bank, BoA class actions accuse companies of stifling customer rights to free speech
- Navy Federal class action claims credit union discriminates against minorities
- U.S. Bank to pay $36M over pandemic unemployment benefit freeze
- Lawsuit claims Apple, Visa, Mastercard made anticompetitive agreements
441 thoughts onWells Fargo class action claims company charges illegal overdraft fees
Yes please add me
I have been charged several times over a few years for crazy overcharges in last few years and as a disabled Vet in their so called military banking have spent more money to them then able to pay my bills. Always charging me a late fee even when I have money there. The last was the gave me $2500 in a provisional for a dispute it was supposed to be 25.00$ they took 2900$ back and are erasing my ledger as we speak after calling in a complaint. They are scandalous. After first class action I was awarded 2000$ year after damage was done and continued to take it back in any manner possible. I say we start a class action again. This is ridiculous.
Yes , I’ve been charged multiple overdraft fees and they’ve also held on to my check deposit for weeks and knowing that the was there. I’ve sign up for overdraft protection and not even 3 months later they toke it up on them shelves and took overdraft protection without my consent…
It’s so ironic I found this Wells Fargo class action lawsuit today. Just today I was going over old statements and found I was charged more then 4 times for overdraft checks when I had over 50k in my account. Also can we open a class action lawsuit on Wells Fargo for not depositing funds into your account and holding your money hostage for weeks , even after they spoke to the company of the check issued explicitly telling them several times the funds are immediately available and there is no reason to put a hold on the check.
I also got hit with 3 overdraft fees in one day. They give you an “extra day” grace period but it’s really only an extra 12 hours.
I’ve been charged many times. Wells uses practices like processing smaller amounts before larger amounts when they are paid with a debit card. This leads the larger amounts to overdraft the account. Then you are slapped with a $35 overdraft fee. I have called several times to dispute the charges. I end up receiving half the fee back and a few times I received the entire fee back. However, there have been many times I did not receive tge fee back. I’ve been with Wells for 15 years. I want to switch banks but I think they are all crooked. I was with BOA before Wells and they did the same thing. There was a class action lawsuit for BOA. Over $3k in overdraft fees over a 3 year period and I got a whopping $248.
Wells Fargo has charged my card 4 overdraft fee in one day then the next I got charged again. When I called they said they can only reverse one fee a year. How can I sue them
Yes I have been charged plenty of times and never received any compensation
I don’t understand why Wells Fargo lets an account that is already negative accept more transactions. If its been $50 negative for 3 days why would Wells Fargo let anything else through? I’ll tell you why. They Love to make money WITH ONE $35 NSF at A time. Wells Fargo added a grace period program way after I opened my account and never asked me verbally or nonverbally if I wanted it. I dont but its there.
Yep they live for it i’m actively going through this with them and to make it worse they aren’t applying money that should be in the account to the fees