Too big to fail banks even bigger

“J.P. Morgan Chase, an amalgam of some of Wall Street’s most storied institutions, now holds more than $1 of every $10 on deposit in this country. So does Bank of America, scarred by its acquisition of Merrill Lynch and partly government-owned as a result of the crisis, as does Wells Fargo, the biggest West Coast bank. Those three banks, plus government-rescued and -owned Citigroup, now issue one of every two mortgages and about two of every three credit cards, federal data show.”

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Another Wells Fargo overdraft manipulation class action

“Wells Fargo juggles accounts to extract maximum, and unfair, overdraft fees from its customers, a class action claims in Houston Federal Court.”

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Wells Fargo sued for knowingly approving risky 2nd mortgage

“A Bowie couple is suing Wells Fargo bank, alleging the bank should have known they could not afford the second mortgage they agreed to for their home. […] According to court documents, the Bahs have asked for “legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate,” though lawyers hope that will include a chance to renegotiate with the lender. The lawsuit is the latest of hundreds in the region that homeowners have filed in the past year to put off losing their homes, legal aid lawyers said.”

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Wells Fargo sued for race bias in lending

“Illinois filed a lawsuit on Friday against Wells Fargo & Co. accusing it of discriminating against black and Latino homeowners by employing racially biased lending practices.(1) San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. allegedly sold high-cost subprime mortgage loans to minorities while white borrowers with similar incomes received lower-cost loans, according to the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “As a result of its discriminatory and illegal mortgage-lending practices, Wells Fargo transformed our cities’ predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods into ground zero for subprime lending,” Madigan said.”

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Wells Fargo sued for pocketing customer funds

“Wells Fargo takes advantage of customers who make math errors on ATM deposits by keeping the extra money even after it discovers the mistake, a class action claims in Superior Court. The “threshold amount” for the bank to snatch the money is about $10, the class says.
     Lead plaintiff Brandi McLay says that when customers make a deposit by ATM and mistakenly enter an amount lower than the amount of the check, Wells Fargo pockets the difference.”

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Wells Fargo sues itself

“In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

“The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale,” Waetke said in an email exchange. “So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo.”

Yet court documents clearly label “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as the plaintiff and “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as a defendant.

Wells Fargo hired Florida Default Law Group., P.L., of Tampa, Fla., to file the lawsuit against itself.

And then Wells Fargo hired another Tampa law firm — Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer P.A. — to defend itself against its own lawsuit, according to court documents.”

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Wells Fargo & Deutsche Bank sued in foreclosure mess

Ohio has been hit hard by foreclosures.  Not just Cleveland but also Cincinnati.  This lawsuit is aimed at Wells,  Deutsche Bank and the City of Cincinnati for allowing the Price Hill areas to become dangerously blighted.  The complaint states that in East and West Price Hill neighborhoods there were nearly 300 foreclosures in 2007.   

The banks are blamed for allowing the properties they foreclosed on to become littered with trash and broken glass.  Houses have become safety hazards and magnets for looters.  They re-sell these properties, according to the complaint, to out-of-town speculators who have no intention of making improvements to the properties.

What do the plaintiffs want?  They want to force the banks to make the properties presentable and if that doesn’t happen to have a receiver appointed who will make the necessary improvements if the banks don’t. 

Ohio is in the forefront of efforts to legally address the terrible conditions caused by mass foreclosures.   Surely, other states are being hit as hard.  Why aren’t we hearing about these kinds of suits in places like Florida, California and Nevada?

Complaint courtesy Courthousenews

Wells Fargo overdraft overreaching

The lawsuit filed in Northern California Federal court, accuses Wells Fargo of devising a system to take advantage of customers’ overdrafts in order to charge them fees.  The key to the claim is that rather than debit an account in the order in which the transaction was made, the bank withdraws the highest amount first, increasing the likelihood of an overdraft.  Then it fails to notify the customer about the impending overdraft that would give them a chance to pay differently; perhaps by adding funds from a savings account or paying with a credit card.

This suit is similar to the one filed against Bank of America earlier this month I mentioned in this post.

Complaint courtesy Courthousenews.

Wells Fargo Asking for $$

Wells Fargo prices $11 billion stock offering at $27 per share

The article says its for the purchase of Wachovia, you know that bank with billions upon billions of debt.  What exactly is this $11 billion going for?