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Wells Fargo Inspection Fees Class Action Overview:
- Who: A homeowner whose mortgage is serviced through Wells Fargo has filed a new class action lawsuit against the bank.
- Why: The plaintiff alleges the bank charged her and other homeowners millions of dollars in property inspections that were not required.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey.
A fraudulent mortgage servicing scheme run by Wells Fargo, which sees the bank collect illegal fees for property inspections, has bankrupted homeowners and caused them to lose their homes, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The nationwide class action lawsuit was filed in New Jersey by lead Plaintiff Jane Hart who alleges that the bank illegally charged her and other homeowners that were in dire financial straits millions of dollars in property inspection fees that were not required, “putting their homes in jeopardy and, in some instances, resulting in bankruptcy.”
According to the class action lawsuit, Wells Fargo uses a computer system to automatically assess fees for property inspections without regard to the terms of the borrowers’ mortgage loans or the relevant circumstances.
“Instead of being based upon reasonable parameters, the computer system was programmed to assess as many charges as possible and to pay first all outstanding fees and costs before satisfying interest and principal,” the claim reads.
According to the claim, the computer-generated inspections are unreasonable, confer no benefit on the lender, and serve no discernible purpose other than to generate revenue for Wells Fargo, and that is further evidenced by the limited nature of the inspection themselves.
“The property inspections ordered by the Wells Fargo computer system are mere ‘drive-by’ inspections, i.e., the inspector “drives by” the property ostensibly to assess whether the house is occupied, being maintained, and has not been damaged- a practice that provides little, if any, real opportunity to determine whether the lender’s interest in the property is at risk,” the class action lawsuit reads.
It adds that Wells Fargo personnel do not read the inspection reports. As a result, the observations contained in the initial inspection have absolutely no bearing on whether another inspection will be ordered in 20 or 45 days.
Hart’s mortgage loans were serviced by Wells Fargo from their origination with World Savings Bank, FSB in 2004, until it transferred its responsibilities to another servicer effective April 2021, according to the class action lawsuit.
Wells Fargo began to charge Hart’s mortgage account for inspection fees beginning in May 2011, after Hart missed payments on her mortgage, according to the class action lawsuit. Despite Hart entering into a payment agreement with the bank, it charged her $20 for each inspection conducted between May 2011 and March 2012, and $15 for each inspection conducted after March 2012, the lawsuit says. Many of those inspections were double ups or unwarranted, it adds. Wells Fargo continued to charge Hart’s mortgage account for property inspection fees until at least October 2018.
Wells Fargo has profited enormously from this fraudulent scheme, the lawsuit states, with fees paid by Hart and others generating the bank hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
The claim adds that Wells Fargo repeatedly sent Hart “materially false and misleading agreements, contracts, and monthly mortgage statements” that concealed the nature of the improper and unlawful inspection fees by listing them on the borrower’s statement only as “other charges.”
Hart wants to represent a nationwide and New Jersey Class of mortgage holders who have been charged unwarranted inspection fees by Wells Fargo. She is suing for breach of contract, and violation of state consumer laws and federal racketeering laws.
She is seeking certification of the Class, order of enjoinment, damages, interest, legal fees and costs, and a jury trial.
Have you ever been charged a property inspection fee that you think was unwarranted? Tell us about your experience in the comments section!
Hart is represented by Catherine E. Anderson of Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson LLP and Roosevelt N. Nesmith of the Law Offices of Roosevelt N. Nesmith LLC.
Wells Fargo has not yet made an appearance in the case as of late Friday.
The Wells Fargo Inspection Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Hart v. Wells Fargo Bank NA, Case No. 1:21-cv-14644, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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92 thoughts onWells Fargo ‘Fraudulent’ Mortgage Servicing Fees Bankrupt Homeowners, Put Homes at Risk, Class Action Alleges
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I Patricia bolden need to be added to the Wells Fargo Lawsuite people. Are driving to my home taken pictures of my home listings my home for sale since I been with the Wells Fargo home mortgage I purchased my home with anther company with a FHA loan back in 1999 I was very satisfied with that company with a interest rate of 3.5 every since Wells Fargo came up to my job at Vanderbilt OBGYN clinic pressure me into signing refinance my loan with the Wells Fargo bank they never came to my home they put me at risk of losing my job at Vanderbilt hospital by not following proper procedures to refinance at my home no inspection was made on my home and the Rep was telling me I could save money on my home I just found out that the Rep sign me up for Balloon payments when the Rep stated stated that I would still be under the same agreement with the first mortgage holder that I was doing just fine with the Rep sured me that I would still be under the same fixed rate also I never had a checking account with Wells Fargo but I had a checking account that I didn’t ever open with Wells Fargo and money was taken out of my savings account and then closed by the bank now I have a loan that doesn’t explain what is a other mortgage loan with balloon payments and a interest rate of 5.8 I don’t understand how could a company sell your mortgage without warning you of the sale on all occasion I use my other bank cornerstone to pay for cashiers checks so I make one out to principal only and one for the mortgage and one time the teller read the computer at Wells Fargo to throw away my principal only payment receipt and only give me the receipt of only my payment I check before I left the cashier rep about receiving both receipts payments and it wasn’t there then I ask where is my Principal only receipt and the Rep went into the trash to pull out my receipt to my principle only payment and stapled them all together please add me to the Wells Fargo law suite
This happened a few times when Wells Fargo did a loan remodification without disclosures on my house with Wells Fargo added fees and for ELOC loan
Please add me as I was given extra fees to pay over the phone for my mortgage
Add me. I lost our family home when When Wells Fargo refused my house payments because I came after them for selling me a predatory loan and tried to force them to make it honest,fair and rewrite the loan. They forced me into default, proceeded to run up debt on top of the predatory loan to prevent me from saving my home. They kept adding miscellaneous fees for inspections, even extra insurance when I had insurance and other fees. People were driving by taking pictures,even walked up to my door and asked to enter. My sons ran them off since a couple of the guys were threatening. I even had to call the police and a lawyer who served Wells Fargo with a cease abd desist order and no trespassing notice. I went through hell for nearly two years before it stopped and the. Fees added to the loan amount were in the thousands.. I still have all the records.
Add me…I have over a thousand dollars in fees and I have no idea where they came from.
Add me too, they been doing this for awhile now to us. As matter of fact we are dealing with a lot of issues with them as in other fees, inspection fees, late fees, not sure why they raised our monthly payment along with the amount owed is going up every month. They are applying and un-applying our payments. I need a good lawyer because I have it all in their monthly statements where they are screwing us. We get at least 2 statements a month and they all show something different. It awful I am trying to deal with them but getting nowhere. So please add us too and whatever else we can be added to.
How do i get added to the class action against wells fargo. same timeline as woman suing them.
Please add me
Was charged multiple fees
They also did the same here. 2017 I was in foreclosure. I’m trying to work with them for a loan modification. And they kept sending somebody by the house to see if I was living there. I’m still charging me.
Please count me in. Wells Fargo has had me on the ropes for years and even caused me to lose a state home keeper program amount of $48k that was paid by my state to help me and was then taken back because of Wells Fargo’s incompetence.
We used WF for 3 mortgages and had drive by inspections. Please add me.