 A federal judge in California ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to change what he called "unfair and deceptive business practices" that led customers into paying multiple overdraft fees, and to pay $203 million back to customers. In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. "We have found that high-low gives priority to larger payments and have found that those are the customers' priority payments ... it gives priority to larger transactions," said Richele Messick, spokeswoman for Wells Fargo.
– Wells Fargo is guilty of gouging and profiteering and needs to return $203 million in overdraft fees to customers, a San Francisco judge ruled yesterday. The bank's practice of processing transactions from the largest to the smallest instead of in the order in which they occurred is clearly designed to maximize the number of overdrafts and "squeeze as much as possible" out of customers, the judge wrote in his sternly worded decision. The judge ordered the bank to change its "unfair and deceptive" practices, which in some cases caused customers to be charged 10 $35 overdraft fees for going just a few dollars over the limit, the AP reports. Wells Fargo says it is disappointed by the decision and plans to appeal. If the decision stands, it could be just the tip of a very costly iceberg for Wells Fargo, the San Francisco Chronicle notes. The $203M million only applies to California customers, and a similar class-action suit representing customers in other states will go to trial next year.