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On June 8, the plaintiffs of five Wells Fargo overdraft fee class action lawsuits won Class certification for their cases. These five cases are part of the larger, nationwide Wells Fargo overdraft fee multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Wells Fargo Bank NA, all alleging that the bank employs deceptive business practices with its bank overdraft fee policy.
After two days of oral arguments for and against Class certification in Miami federal court, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King granted Class certification to the Wells Fargo overdraft fee class action lawsuit.
Judge King’s certification was a two-fold order, the first applying to Class certification for two cases originally filed in Florida and California against Wachovia Bank (which was later acquired by Wells Fargo, and the second applying to three cases in New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington against Wells Fargo specifically. As part of the judge’s ruling, a number of subclasses for different state jurisdictions were also accepted.
According to Judge King’s order certifying the various classes and subclasses of these Wells Fargo overdraft fee class action lawsuits:
“[E]ach and every subclass possesses a materially identical legal claim and is headed up by Bank customers who share that claim and have ample incentive to prosecute it. There are no ‘headless’ subclasses, and customers in every state in which Wells Fargo did business (except lndiana, which is excluded), stand to recoup their allegedly excessive overdraft fees through at least one cause of action. The Court’s plan appropriately protects the interests of all class members to the extent feasible, given these named Plaintiffs and state laws, while also affording Wells Fargo the ability to defend itself in every instance.”
These Wells Fargo class action lawsuits are among a group of similar cases that were popularly filed in the late 2000s against numerous banks, claiming banks deceptively deducted from consumers’ accounts as part of a scheme to maximize overdraft fees.
In the overdraft fee class action lawsuits filed against Wells Fargo, the plaintiffs claim the bank’s marketing materials state that ATM and debit card transactions “generally reduce the available balance in your account immediately … [and] purchase amounts are automatically deducted from your primary checking account.” In their Wells Fargo class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs claim these Wells Fargo marketing statements misrepresents the resequencing sequence that allegedly occurs on consumer accounts in order to cause the account to overdraw.
Back in October 2012, Wells Fargo had attempted to compel the plaintiffs of the various overdraft fee class action lawsuits consolidated in the Wells Fargo MDL into arbitration. However, Judge King found that the Wells Fargo arbitration clause included in the bank’s account agreements are not mandatory, “Therefore, Wells Fargo’s arbitration-based argument is premature given the permissive nature of these agreements and the stage of this litigation,” according to the Wells Fargo class action lawsuits.
The plaintiffs are represented by Podhurst Orseck PA, Bruce S. Rogow PA, Grossman Roth PA, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Baron & Budd PC, Webb Klase & Lemond LLC, Golomb & Honik PC and Trief & Olk, among others.
The Wells Fargo Overdraft Fee Class Action Lawsuits are consolidated in the Wells Fargo Overdraft Fee MDL known as In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, MDL No. 09-md-02036, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami).
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14 thoughts onWells Fargo Overdraft Fee Class Actions Win Certification
I had so many overdrafts I’m not sure what lawsuit I got for a class action notice it was supposed to be settled in July I have not received anything yet
My current issue w WF is due to them locking my debit card/account with no notice, etc. as to WHY, thus I cannot use my debit card and I look bad to merchants and so forth who attempt to ACH from my account. Further, their “rules” state that for the minimum you have to use your card X-amount of times per month or they’ll charge you the monthly fee (which you actually have to click on 3 things on their site to see if you’re charged that month).
Last week when I called WF and spoke to customer service, I was unaware my acct was locked, so I was informed that “due to the high volume of debits” (yeah, like mcdonalds and various things like that – like a criminal is gonna go to mcdonalds if they get your debit card!) they locked my account. I said “yes, but I received no notice of suspicious activity… how was I supposed to be aware that I was supposed to “call in!” per your suggestion?”
They expect you just to call in and verify every (*&(*&(* purchase you made with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously! It’s like justifying purchases with your mom and dad. BS, I say!
I work for a competitor bank. My bank does not have a physical branch where I am (ironic), and my car loan is through WF. I thought once I relocated and saw the abundance of WF branches that it would be ‘convenient’ for me since my car loan was already through them.
I am now going to be checking every bill I pay through WF and you better believe I am checking out how to join that lawsuit against them if it’s possible (providing they have not been proceeding by law with my account and me).
I detest these practices by large companies, especially banks. that does not mean “they ALL do it!” but all I’m sayin’ is “CREDIT UNION!”
I had so many overdraft fees taken out of my account because of Wellsfargo, hoe do I join or start my own class action against them?
Wells Fargo should be made to pay everyone their money back. If you can not afford an attorney your money is just gone to them. I pay my bills on line they will take out the small bills first and if you pay like your mortgage on line then they will show where you paid it or the other bills but, when you go to look in your account again in a couple of days its not showing anymore (the mortgage) the bills that are big they take them out later to charge these extra fee because the know some people just swipe their card and don’t keep a good track until days later. Causing you to overdraft, especially when you saw it the day you paid it. An example, My children’s boost mobile cell phones I pay them one day I look at my account online and it shows I did and its pending and then it goes away and in 3 days it shows back up. So if I have maybe $100 in my account left after bills I then can buy groceries or what ever they will say no you didn’t have any money left because you paid your cell phones and it hasn’t been taken out yet it wasn’t enough to pay or if its the mortgage then we reversed the mortgage. What! They are sooooo messy!!!!! This is against the law . They want us to be honest and have great credit in order to get a loan or go to the bank for whatever and they are every second of the day deceiving people and coning people out of their money. I have been late paying my mortgage because of this and they charge me a $27.50 late fee and then send someone out to my house to hang a note on my door to call the 800 number when I have already talked to someone and explain why I was late and when I was going to pay. And they always want to know If I live in my house and plan on keeping it/ REALLY!!!That is against policy and a law suit was just closed in Dec. 2015 to file to get your late fees back. And I’m waiting on my check. You cant keep doing people wrong the president bailed the banks out and he should have bail out the customers.
I am beyond frustrated with them…hundreds and hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees… transactions posting then seemingly reposting in an order more convenient for them… I don’t have time to be paying them for things that I do not do. This is ridiculous. I am disgusted.
I tried to call about a merchant that hit my account 4 times in a month they for different amounts making little sense then they decide to pay the highest illigetimate charge so my check went from a low $300 bucks (another problem thx home depot ++++ that place also) to zilch and when I tried to call and see wtf they treat me like I’m a damn kid with some piggy bank. They are so busy stealing millions they laugh at my $300 bucks @@@@ this im going to bitcoin should have 10 years ago $$$$ you WELLS howFARwilltheyGO
now multiply that by millions of people…they stole thousands from me over the years with their twisted manipulation. They thought they were so clever with their corrupt software when in fact they were just being greedy and evil against the people with the least. If they took one overdraft at the time it hit that would have been different but they flipped everything around making it 10 overdrafts wiping out MY hard earned money and budget..my food,utility and gas money. Thieves!
Wells Fargo ripped me off!!! I opened a checking acct with them and they offered wells fargo credit and said they will transfer current credit card balances to the wells fargo credit account at a lower percentage interest. Of course i said ok, then they took my credit card that i wanted to transfer the balance from and went into the back room with it for about 7 minutes. When he came back out and sat down at his desk, he looked and said well they cant transfer your balance because it is too high($1300) and my limit was $1500. Well is said then that is alright, i just came in for checking anyway, so dont bother with the wells fargo credit card, and dont put overdraft protection on my checking, since i didnt get approved for the wells fargo credit card. He said ok, and i said to not send statements by mail, he said ok. Since then i get statements in the mail, not at my request, and i have had my account go -$190 negative, for overdraft return check fees that they never covered but charged me a returned checked fee and still charged me $35 for each attempt that they did, which they made sure to run it through 4 times after the first insufficient funds fee was processed. If i didnt opt in for the overdraft protection, why are they charging me for each time and then acting like they paid the original $50 payment to paypal, but paypal was never paid, my accounts from paypal and wells fargo were both penalized and i have since had to pay over $200 more than i should have. This frivilous treatment by wells fargo is morally and financially EVIL and it continues to happen even though there are several class action suits against Wells Fargo. How can i get in on it, i live in california so is there any suit awarded to the people against wells fargo in california?
I did get my overdrafts back you have to go into a branch and speak with a branch manager and request your $35 back I did it 3 times and they were hot and didn’t want too but its against the law. I saw this on a TV show on money talk I believe. They first time they do it you can call over the phone and they will reverse it and put it back in your account after that you have to go to the branch.
Wells Fargo is still doing the same thing. I keep track of my account and only use the account to pay bills. I will see where the bill is deducted from my available balance and then see where Wells Fargo will reject it and then charge me an overdraft fee. I am closing the account because I am tired of paying unnecessary fee and can never get a clear understanding of how its deducted from my balance and then returned. I need to look into starting a lawsuit against them.
They never gave us the option to opt out of overdraft and when me and my husband each had used our debit cards my transactions caused an overdraft, I do not have a credit card with Wells Fargo but my husband does, they took money from my husbands card to cover my overdraft, I am not a signature holder on his card at all, that is against the law to charge my husbands card with my error!!!! Plus neither of us set up over draft on the acct!!! I have since changed mine to not allow overdrafts at all!!!! They did overdrafts also before deposits??? how is that possible!!!!???
Wellsfargo in their number muniplulation received hundreds of dollars from my husband in 2007 and refused to right the issues. We closed his account prior to us marrying in 2008 and we haven’t had a problem. What they did was criminal…whole paychecks.