SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced the expansion of its
class-action settlement for retail sales practices (announced on March
28) to include any customers who were impacted by sales practice issues
as early as May 2002. The updated settlement will add $32 million to the
previous agreement for a total settlement amount of $142 million.
“The expansion of this agreement is another important step to make
things right for our customers,” said Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo’s President
and Chief Executive Officer. “On our journey to rebuild trust, we want
to ensure our customers feel confident that we have heard their concerns
about retail sales practices, which includes offering them numerous
opportunities for remediation. We encourage any customer with concerns
or questions about their accounts to contact us.”
The settlement builds on ongoing remediation efforts Wells Fargo is
pursuing for customers who may have been impacted by sales practice
issues. The company is working directly with customers to resolve issues
through its complaints process. In addition, if Wells Fargo is unable to
resolve issues directly, customers who believe they received a product
or service they did not want or authorize are offered a free mediation
service with an independent third-party mediator.
Wells Fargo has submitted the class-action settlement agreement and
summary of claims process in the Northern District of California (Jabbari
v. Wells Fargo, N.A., et al.) to settle the lawsuit concerning
retail sales practices. The updated settlement agreement takes into
account findings from the Sales Practices Investigation conducted by the
independent board directors of Wells Fargo (released on April 10). The
settlement class now will consist of all customers who claim that Wells
Fargo opened an account in their name without consent, enrolled them in
a product or service without consent, or submitted an application for a
product or service in their name without consent during the period from
May 1, 2002, through April 20, 2017.
Wells Fargo expects this settlement to resolve claims in 11 other
pending class actions that unauthorized accounts were opened in
customers’ names or that customers were enrolled in products or services
without their consent.
After attorneys’ fees and costs of administration, the $142 million
settlement will provide three forms of compensation for settlement class
members: reimbursement of fees incurred, compensation for damage to
credit caused by the opening of unauthorized accounts at Wells Fargo,
and after repayment of fee damages and credit impact damages, additional
compensation paid from the Net Settlement Fund.
Customers who were charged fees in connection with unused, unauthorized
accounts from January 1, 2009, through April 20, 2017, will be eligible
to receive fee reimbursement in the amount of the actual fees they were
charged as determined by the settlement administrator. If a customer was
charged fees related to an unauthorized account from May 1, 2002,
through December 31, 2008, he or she will receive a flat-rate fee
reimbursement that will be based on the average of fees paid out to
those who file claims for the Jan. 1, 2009 – April 20, 2017 period.
Remediation Efforts Continue
This settlement is in addition to other remediation efforts that Wells
Fargo continues to pursue. To date, Wells Fargo has refunded
approximately $3.2 million to customers under the stipulated judgment
with the Los Angeles City Attorney and the CFPB and OCC consent orders,
covering the period 2011 - 2016.
To make things right with customers who were impacted by sales practices
issues, Wells Fargo also is conducting its own voluntary review of
accounts from 2009 – 2010 to determine and remediate any customer harm.
Customers should contact Wells Fargo directly if they believe they had
an unauthorized account or service opened in their name, by visiting a
branch or calling 1-877-924-8697.
Next Steps
The settlement agreement must be approved by the court. If the court
grants preliminary approval of the settlement agreement, a notice will
be issued providing information concerning the process for making
claims, and customers who believe they should be included in this suit
will be able to submit claims. The court also will need to grant final
approval of the settlement before payments will be made to class
members. In the meantime, customers do not need to take any action;
however, as always, they are encouraged to contact Wells Fargo to
discuss any account issues.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based
financial services company with $2.0 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852
and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking,
insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance
through more than 8,500 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet
(wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and
territories to support customers who conduct business in the global
economy. With approximately 273,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one
in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was
ranked No. 27 on Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest
corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’
financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and
perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells
Fargo Stories.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements about our future
financial performance and business. Because forward-looking statements
are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding the
future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Do not
unduly rely on forward-looking statements as actual results could differ
materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date made, and we do not undertake to update them to reflect
changes or events that occur after that date. For information about
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our
expectations, refer to our reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, as
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its
website at www.sec.gov.
