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On Friday, a New York federal jury ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to pay $54.8 million in damages to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging the late fees charged by two mortgage servicers were improper and excessive.
The mortgage fee class action lawsuit alleged that The Money Store and HomEq, mortgage firms which are now defunct, improperly charged late fees after borrowers’ loans were accelerated and paid off. HomEq had been owned by Wachovia, which Wells Fargo acquired in 2008. The Money Store was owned by First Union, which was later acquired by Wachovia. Wells Fargo never actually owned either mortgage firm.
Plaintiff Joseph Mazzei alleged in the mortgage fee class action lawsuit that he took out a mortgage loan from The Money Store in 1994. Five years later, he fell behind on the loan and defaulted several times. He alleges that The Money Store and others accelerated his loan obligations in 2000, declaring that the full amount of the debt was due immediately.
Subsequently, Mazzei was charged multiple late fees for failing to make monthly payments on the loan, according to the mortgage fee class action lawsuit. He later sold his home and made a payment of approximately $61,000 to the defendants.
The mortgage fee class action lawsuit charged the defendants with breach of contract and violations of the Truth in Lending Act and the California Business & Professional Code. A judge previously dismissed claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
In January 2013, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl certified Classes of borrowers who signed on loans owned or serviced by the defendants and were charged unlawful fees between March 1, 2000 and June 2, 2014. Excluded from the Class are borrowers who signed form loan mortgage agreements after Nov. 1, 2006.
The mortgage late fee class action lawsuit, which was filed in 2001, sought around $629 million for alleged overcharges and interest. The case went to trial earlier this month and lasted 10 days.
“We disagree with the jury’s decision to award damages for some of the claims in this case—all of which are based on allegations dating back 10 years or more at a predecessor company—and we likely will seek review of that portion of the verdict,” a spokesman for Wells Fargo said.
The plaintiff is represented by Moshe Horn and Christopher M. Van de Kieft of Seeger Weiss LLP, Paul Grobman of the Law Offices of Paul Grobman, and Neal A. DeYoung and Rajan Sharma of Sharma & DeYoung LLP.
The Wells Fargo Late Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Joseph Mazzei, et al. v. The Money Store, et al., Case No. 1:01-cv-05694, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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24 thoughts onWells Fargo Ordered to Pay $55M in Mortgage Fee Class Action
We missed one payment with them, literally only one payment, and they promptly started our foreclosure. The January 2008 payment was missed, paperwork for the foreclosure arrived in February, and they took the house in April of 2008.
Americas Servicing Company (Wells Fargo) is very dirty.
I had a home equity loan with The Money Store, that was a nightmare. When I had trouble making a payment they would call and scream at me over the phone, berate me, threaten, etc. etc. I’m sure they got a lot of money out of me for their late payment fees and whatever other fees they dreamed up. I was wondering when we should receive payment for this class action
I had a home loan 2003-04 which I paid off in 2004 because of payment problems. They were not credit acct for payments made.
In 2006, I bought the house thru WMC who sold to Litton the same day I signed for the mortgage and they in turn sold to American Servicing Corp aka Wells Fargo within 60 days of holding the note. I fell behind in my payments (subprime with balloon, two loans) and have been paying late for over a year now. Last week, Saturday December 20th, some persons knocked on my front door and I didn’t open, I live in Orlando and there have been several home invasions even during daylight. Anyways, after they let I went to check the outside area, and found a photocopied letter they left from Premiere Asset Services, which is another doing business as name for Wells Fargo, N.A. The letter wasn’t even for my property and indicated that Wells Fargo had completed a foreclosure on the property. Right away I froze thinking I was going to lose the house; took a deep breath and re-read the letter, it had another address for a property in Longwood, Florida. I had already caught up both mortgages the prior week, although they charged me $1,000 for supossedly referring the case to some lawyers that work for them to accelerate the loan. Several months ago, I looked into the Obama Home Modification HAMP and when I called them, the person was rude and told me they don;t have to honor HAMP and that I must give him my financial info, so I told him no. I called the Consumer Credit Counseling people that work with the HAMP and it was a waste of time, the guy told me not to spend a lot of money in groceries and among other things, to tell my wife to go get a job. I have not sent my modification paperwork because I have read they are really sneaky asking for all kinds of info only to offer you a $100 cut on your payment for six months. I paid $225K, the house is worth $110K, and they know it. I keep getting letters from Wells Fargo offering assistance to short-sale, foreclose, etc, but I can still pay the mortgage, its just that I’ve had medical and funeral expenses that were not planned for.
My comments refers to them using these letters to scare owners into paying under false pretenses. Also it peeves me off that on my rest day, Saturday, someone would come to harass me at my home. They call my office twice a day, and my home phone three times.
To me, Wells Fargo and American Servicing Corporation, are the worst companies to do business with.
My son bought on 11-17-06. He lived here until 2010 and then I moved in and make the mortgage payments and have the mortgage insurance in my name. I could write a book about what they have put us through.
I could write a book as well. How sad it is that a company is so bad and abusive that customer experiences can fill many books.
What about
Wells Fargo and Ocwen?
Wells Fargo took over my loan from another company and They mortgaged my home for a few years before taking it from me in a foreclosure 2009. Think they had my loan 3-4 years. I started drawing Social Security in Jan that year and they made me move out in August. They kept telling me they were working on a loan modification and would not accept any payment from me till that went through. Then they say they can’t help and give me the boot. And I had money to be paying them something. Sent them one check only to be returned. They stated for them to claim the check it would have to be for the total past amount , just to wait and hold it until they worked out the loan modification. Said my payments would be much lower and interest rates would be much lower as well. There was 8 months they could have been getting some money from me and I could have kept my home.
I have a mot
Reggae with wells fargo
I had a mortgage with Wells Fargo also for over 6 years I do believe that I put in for this lawsuit years ago but if not who do I need to contact and is it too late?
How about those of us with the same issue with Americas Servicing Company under Wells Fargo?
I have mortgage with Wells Fargo from 2001 to 2006
property locate at 623 Hendrix street, Brooklyn new york 11207
I have a mortgage with wells Fargo from 2001 to 2006 Loan Number 1396233