Page 39 - Wells Fargo Bank (C) Teaching Note

Wells Fargo settles class action suit. The preliminary deal promises $110
million for wronged consumers.

April 10:

Former executives are asked for money back. The bank claws back $75
million from two former executives for their roles in the fake accounts
scandal, including another $28 million from former CEO John Stumpf. A new
report from independent directors on the Wells Fargo board reveals the
bank prepared an internal report in 2004 about practices that may
encourage employees to create fake accounts.

April 21:

The bank's cost of a settlement goes up. The settlement in the class action
suit is increased to $142 million.

June 14:

New allegations about mortgages are levelled. In a new lawsuit, Wells Fargo
is accused of modifying mortgages without authorization from the
customers. That means some customers could have ended up paying the
bank more than they owed. It's unclear how many customers were affected.
Wells Fargo says it "strongly denies" the claims.

July 27:

New allegations about auto insurance are revealed. The bank admits it
charged at least 570,000 customers for auto insurance they did not need.
Wells Fargo says an internal review found about 20,000 customers may have
defaulted on their car loans for related reasons.

August 4:

Wells Fargo is sued for allegedly ripping off small businesses. A lawsuit
accuses Wells Fargo of overcharging small businesses for credit card
transactions by using a "deceptive" 63-page contract to confuse them.

August 31:

More fake accounts are discovered. Wells Fargo says it has found 1.4 million
additional phony accounts. This brings the total number of fake accounts to
3.5 million.

October 3:

Wells Fargo says it wrongly fined mortgage clients. Wells Fargo admits that
110,000 mortgage holders were fined for missing a deadline -- even though