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MarketWatchThe Federal Reserve on Wednesday slapped an $85 million fine on Wells Fargo & Co for allegedly steering borrowers into high-cost subprime mortgage loans even though they qualified for safer loans. The fine is the largest civil monetary penalty the Fed has ever assessed in a consumer-protection enforcement action, the central bank said in a press release. The Fed said employees at a subsidiary of Wells Fargo falsified information about borrowers' incomes to make it appear they qualified for loans. Wells Fargo, the bank holding company based in San Francisco, did not admit to any wrongdoing. The order requires Wells Fargo to compensate borrowers affected by these practices. The bank also agreed to improve the oversight of its home mortgage loan business
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-fines-wells-fargo-85-mln-for-mortgage-abuses-2011-07-20-150280?link=MW_home_latest_news
Press Release
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/enforcement/20110720a.htm(snip)
The amount of compensation provided to individual borrowers will depend on a number of factors, including differences between what borrowers paid and what they should have paid in terms of origination points, interest payments, fees, and penalties. Until specific determinations of harm to individual borrowers are made, it is difficult to determine the total amount of compensation provided to borrowers. Based on preliminary estimates, the amount of compensation that each eligible borrower will receive ranges between $1,000 and $20,000, but some eligible borrowers may receive less than $1,000 and others may receive more than $20,000. The number of borrowers who may receive compensation under both plans is estimated to be between 3,700 and possibly more than 10,000.
Further information for borrowers may be found at www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage.