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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
Please add me. Wells Fargo purchased my loan, and constantly harassed me to do auto mortgage payments. They sent me a letter stating I did not qualify and would not have automatic payments, I went into the bank to pay the mortgage as usual. Wells Fargo did the automatic payment anyway. every month, I paid as much extra towards principal as possible, so I could not afford to make the double payments ( regular payment plus automatic ones) This caused my Wells Fargo checking to become overdrawn. It created over $7k and $9k in overdraft fees from the transaction being transferred back and forth between checking and mortgage. The bank personnel were less than helpful. Both sides insisted they were independent of each other even though their offices were merely feet from each other. They never credited the extra principal payments towards the principal. Due to their payment scam, I lost my home and had horrible credit. I couldn’t even get an apartment in my name after their theft and fraud.
I posted a few posts and am curious as to if you make contact with me if you have questions / next steps etc.? Thank you – Jodi
And btw I still live in my home and when they sold it in 2019 they didn’t handle the transfer accurately and I made a payment to them and they never transferred it as my “new payment” “first payment” to the new bank.
I meant to say also that inspections were done I knew nothing about. No one came inside my house, no one told me why & when and also told me I needed to contact the trustee to get FC details. Why would I? I shouldn’t have been put in FC there was no reason, my situation wasn’t at that issue, I eventually stopped paying because of what they were doing and told them I’m not paying until they stop all of this and then told me to do a short sale. Eventually I considered it and I was told that there were funds to get it that happened to move – moving costs and I said I haven’t signed a thing, I’m asking what the amount is, then was told $0 and found out they talked to a realator who I met with about the possible short sale and talked private details about my finances and also told her to send me a document stating I must sign an offer agreement and there is no program as I mentioned when there was- the department of housing and the hardest hit fund was working with me and them so they were lying and lying and as we all know back then SOHAZ / Department of Housing / Hardest Hit fund government program was all there and they did it day in and day out and preteneed they never heard of it and do not again participate in random third party or work with any. Nuts!
This happened to me prior to WFHM selling my mortgage to a new company after being with them for approximately 12 years. They also started FC when they had no right & there was no reason, they denied a loan modification as well but not only denied it they stated they never got documents which isn’t true and after escalating to office of the president is what they called it they told me I would have one POC to fix and handle things that were so fraudulent. They also told me that they don’t work with any third party programs such as SOHAZ which is a federal government program and they lied because they do in fact work with that program amongst so many others. As I went through the process of doing a recast and keeping my home they threatened me non stop about FC and listed it everywhere online and I was being harassed by people that saw my home posted as a FC and it wasn’t and it stated the date and location and people started driving by my house and 2 tried to enter it, they tried to break my front door lock while I was at home and I live in a gated community, my home was never to be in FC and they know it. They started sending statements that were wrong and I went to my local AG office, my local state senator, the department of housing was on them telling them I am in the process of being approved and to stop all of this. There is so much more they did and I went through almost 2 years a nightmare. When they finally did the recast they got paid every single penny plus more, they didn’t do the recast accurately, they promised me they reported me current to the credit bureaus and didn’t, they ruined my credit, I had to call and fall and file with the CFPB and you name it I did it. They tried to say my first payment after the recast and after they got over 100K was to start 2 months earlier then they committed to so sent me pages and pages of statements that made no sense, they argued with me and lied and I overnighted all I was supposed to and they said they didn’t get it and I had the tracking and name of who signed for it.
This was during 2015-2017 and after all said and done while they put me through pure pure torture and it was like 3 full time jobs for me to stay on top of each thing they did and have 4 boxes of the entire nightmare that never should have started in the first place I pretty much lost my mind. I got it escalated so high up and finally got them to report me correctly (minus two months) as I couldn’t take all of this anymore. Not sure most could and I was sick at the time and caring for my elderly mother.
I could write so much more, but if any is this is relevant how do you get in contact regarding this? For me? Thanks
Originally a Wachovia Borrower, and when Wells Fargo took over, I went into default, although it was listed as my Homestead Florida property, they added various inspection costs each month for 11 years, until I ended up filing chapter 13 and ultimately lost my house and $358,000 in equity…
Please Add me. I had people driving by my house taking pictures in unmarked cars, no warning, sitting out in front of my house and walking around my house taking pictures from my alley. It was very intimidating, We had already filed bankruptcy to try to keep our house and we had a court date scheduled and Wells Fargo sold our mortgage to US Bank who in turn sent us foreclosure papers and did not notify our attorney of what Wells Fargo had done. Our attorney was shocked and had to get an emergency court appointment to meet with the Trustee. It was such a stressful time, I was already having medical issues with tremendous medical bills and Wells Fargo was under handingly still trying to take our home. Wells Fargo are ruthless and just this year they sent us a letter saying they had not put our mortgage payment towards the account which indicated to the credit bureaus that we were delinquent. My husband called to discuss this issue with Wells Fargo and they tried to act like they had no record of the letter that we had received but they saw that a letter was sent out to us but they don’t see what it was about. Yes we still have the letter that they sent and have not gotten this issue resolved because they lied about not seeing what the letter was pertaining to . Wells Fargo needs to be closed and charges need to be pressed against this so call bank. Julia. 414-312-2021/Stanley Thomas
Add me made me pay 2 home owner insurance, plus home inspection ??
Please Add me. I had people driving by my house taking pictures in unmarked cars, no warning, phone calls, identification or notice prior. This happened a few times when I did a loan remodification on my house with Wells Fargo. Very shady and unprofessional. Made me feel very insecure not knowing who they were.
place! Add .e. they gave me other charges. They also forced homeowners insurance when I in fact had it. I have more.
Same for me
Sherry_Olivowecht7@msn.com
Please add me to the class action. Wells Fargo targeted me more than once, this way. I saved my house, but only by spending every penny I had, and then some, to hire an attorney. The stress this caused was astronomical. It affected my physical health, as well. Then, they did it again. They signed me up for programs I did not ask for or agree to, then they returned my payments, and charged loads of ‘fees’ they didn’t disclose. In fact, when they finally agreed to stop foreclosure proceedings, it was under condition I would agree to pay for flood insurance through some company. What the heck does one have to do with the other? Their answer was I had to agree to pay an additional $1400 yearly for flood insurance, in addition to my normal homeowners, plus all those mystery fees and the extra interest which accrued during the period they refused to accept my payments, both at the beginning of the program they signed me up for, calling it a payment ‘relief’ month. I did not want a new mortgage program or a relief month, and I didn’t sign a contract. They just did all this on their own, somehow. When I protested, they shut me out completely. Told me I was being put into ‘accelerated foreclosure’ despite I paid them and they sent it back because they claimed I had a new payment schedule. ? The new payment schedule blocked me from being able to pay online, as I always had, and required a check to be sent to a different physical address, where they admitted to being over 10 days behind in opening payments. They assured me the payments would be posted, using the post-mark vs receipt date, since they were behind in being able to open, but when all was said & done, they mis-posted the payment, then returned it, setting off this long, year and a half long circus that cost me oodles of money, only paled by all the stress it caused. I literally saved my house the very morning it was to be sold at auction, and the only thing I did to cause this in any way, is called customer service to ask a simple question. The rep saw an opportunity to profit, by setting me up on some program they were being incentivised to sell. The whole thing was beyond bizarre. It nearly killed me getting it taken care of. Not to mention all of the man hours it took. A few short years, later, when they began this same process all over again, I knew better. I called and called and called, until I got a manager that realized I meant business. I told him to go listen to the recording which proved I succinctly and very clearly told the representative I did not want to be signed up for their program under any circumstances. The rep kept saying don’t you understand I’m saving you $63 a month? I kept telling the rep I had no interest in saving $63 a month. I pay extra each month so that I can pay off my loan early and save interest over the long term. The rep was so uneducated regarding money matters, she was not even able to understand this simple concept. She kept insisting I was making a huge mistake. I kept insisting it was my decision to make. She finally just hung up. I learned later that the reason she was so insistent was because she had already signed me up. This time, unlike the last, they did send something in the mail. But, it began with a form letter, about how they were eager to help me, by lowering my monthly payment, as I’d requested. It took aprox 15 phone calls across a 2 week period to finally talk to a person who could fix the situation. They kept telling me it was too far gone to change my mind. I kept reminding them I never once ever decided to do it in the first place, and not only did I not agree to their offer, but was very firmly opposed to it. When I asked how in the world that got turned into a new mortgage agreement, they kept treating me like I’d just changed my mind, now lying about it. If I had not kept pressing til I got someone to go listen to the recording, they would have gotten away with it again. It sickens me how many others they’ve probably done this to. The rep who finally fixed it admitted she only did it because she was desperate for money because her mother was ill with cancer. I explained to her the only reason I had time to call so many times was because I was sitting in a chemo chair receiving cancer treatments myself. She actually broke into tears. Wells Fargo is evil, in my opinion.