Wells Fargo Bank settled a class-action lawsuit for nearly $15 million that was initiated by local mortgage broker Bobbie Dyer, a former Wells Fargo employee.
The $14.7 million will be shared among 7,800 Wells Fargo mortgage brokers across the United States who wrote federally-backed home refinancing loans for the company between April 1, 2011, and Jan. 1, 2013. The amount that each broker receives will be dependent on how many refinancing loans they wrote as part of federal programs like the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP.
Dyer's lawsuit, filed last June, charged that Wells Fargo, her employer for 18 years, shorted mortgage brokers like her on commissions when they wrote loans for government-sponsored refinancing programs. The settlement, she said, was "the best way to right a wrong."
"A lot of people are going to get paid what they deserve and what they earned," said Dyer, now the president of the Melbourne-headquartered Dyer Mortgage Group.
Dyer started her own company after leaving Wells Fargo, which is headquartered in San Francisco.
Tom Goyda, spokesman for Wells Fargo, said, "We believe our compensation practices were appropriate and have agreed to settle this lawsuit to avoid protracted litigation. We view the settlement as a compromise, and believe it to be fair and equitable for all parties represented in the class action."
[Again, I feel sorry for these spokespeople! They are forced to defend Wells Fargo's practices in yet, another area, where Wells Fargo fell short. And where Wells Fargo clearly added a jingle to their own pockets in doing so. As more and more areas where Wells Fargo fails their customers come into light, I'm sure these spokespeople huddle together and brainstorm about how they will continue to defend an employer whose actions hurt the customers, and benefit the employer. Wells Fargo practices Reverse Customer Service.
Dyer's attorney, Mark Malek of Melbourne, said Wells Fargo "did the right thing by their workers" by reaching a settlement and the agreement demonstrated the power of workers who join together to address grievances with their employers.
"Ordinarily, the little guy is afraid to fight the big, multimillion dollar company," Malek said. "But when you band a bunch of them together, they can have an impact."
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