Wells Hit With Class Action Suit

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago by borrowers against Wells Fargo Financial, alleging that Wells has violated an Illinois state law barring loans with interest rates above 8% from having fees greater than 3%.Many Wells loans with high rates made in recent years have fees of 5%, 7%, or even more than 10% of the loan amount, according to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, whose general counsel, Steve Backman, is one of the plaintiffs' attorneys. "This lawsuit lets us demand that the excess fees and finance charges Wells has been sucking out of our communities need to be returned to the people they were taken from," said Maude Hurd, president of ACORN. Lynn Greenwood, senior vice president for communications at Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance Group, said any allegations of a pattern of deceptive behavior are false and that the source of the claims is an organization that has tried to misrepresent Wells' practices and policies. "We do not tolerate any attempt to sell a customer any product or service unless the terms are fully disclosed," Ms. Greenwood said. "We have a long-standing policy and process for responding to customers who have complaints. We carefully research those complaints and, if we have erred, we do what is right for the customer."