Wells Fargo COVID Forbearance Settlement Litigation

You do not need to take any action to receive the Automatic Payment and the additional Co-Borrower Payment if there were two borrowers. The Settlement was approved by the Court and became effective February 15, 2025. The Settlement Administrator mailed the Automatic Payment settlement checks to Eligible Class Members March 17, 2025. The Co-Borrower Payment is included in the Automatic Payment check distributed for the associated mortgage account.

To make a claim and receive a payment for an additional harm, you must have completed and submitted a Claim Form online, or by mail by January 10, 2025.

The Court has approved the Settlement, and it became effective February 15, 2025. The Final Approval Order can be found here and the Final Judgement can be found here.

Automatic and Co-borrower Payment distributions commenced in March 2025. Please check this website periodically as any changes to the case status will be updated here.

Supplemental claims are currently being processed. If there are any concerns regarding the information you provided on your claim form and/ or your supporting documentation, you will receive a Defect Letter notifying you of the needed changes before a decision of approval or denial is made. There will be a separate check payment mailed to you if your supplemental claim is approved. Cashing your Automatic Payment check has no impact on your claims review or potential award.

Please check this website periodically as any changes to the case status will be updated here.

All reissue requests must be sent in writing to the Settlement Administrator at the following address:

Wells Fargo Forbearance Litigation Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 2794
Portland, OR 97208-2794

All requests must include your full name, return address, and signature. If possible, please also include the original Settlement payment check. Not including the original check will delay any potential reissue.

If the name of the Class Member on the check should be changed, please send in documentation, as applicable, according to the following list:

• Name Change – If your name has changed, please provide documentation showing this to be the case, which can include documents such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court papers indicating a name change.
• Name Removal – In order to have a name removed from a check reissue, you must provide documentation that shows one party is unable to negotiate the check (such as a death certificate or Power of Attorney). Unfortunately, we cannot divide your Settlement Award check payment. As the Settlement Administrator, we are obligated to comply with the court-ordered Settlement Agreement, which includes adhering to all deadlines, determining class membership, and following payment procedures.
• Deceased Class Member – If the Class Member indicated on the check is deceased, please submit acceptable documentation showing that you are the beneficiary of his or her estate. Acceptable documentation is a death certificate, together with the pertinent portion of the Will, or court order/letters testamentary naming you as personal representative, administrator, executor, or executrix.
• Incapacitated Class Member – If the Class Member cannot act on his or her own behalf, acceptable documentation includes a power of attorney or guardianship/custodial paperwork.

For reasons of security, a check reissue cannot take place until either the original check is received back by us or the original stale date of the check has passed or expired. Because one of these events must occur before we can act on your request, it is not possible for us to provide an estimated date for the reissue to take place. We thank you for your patience.

Under the Settlement, Wells Fargo has agreed to establish a Settlement Fund totaling $185 million ($185,000,000.00) to provide the following benefits as consideration for the resolution and release of the Class Members' claims:

• The first $89 million ($89,000,000.00) will be distributed equally as Automatic Payments to Class Members who did not exclude themselves from the Settlement, pro rata based upon the number of mortgages placed into an At-Issue Forbearance. Class Members who are coborrowers on a Mortgage that received an At-Issue Forbearance will be treated as a single Class Member for the purposes of receiving an Automatic Payment; and
• In addition to the Automatic Payment, each Co-Borrower on a Mortgage that received an At-Issue Forbearance, and who did not exclude themself from the Settlement, will receive an additional $83.33 automatically ("Co-Borrower Payment"). The Co-Borrower Payment(s) shall be included in the Automatic Payment check distributed for the associated mortgage account.

Supplemental claims are currently being processed. There will be a separate check payment mailed to you, if your supplemental claim is approved. Cashing your Automatic Payment check has no impact on your claims review or potential award.

Your supplemental claim is being processed. If there is any additional information and/or supporting documentation required to process your claim, you will receive a Defect Letter notifying you of the needed updates before a decision of approval or denial is made.

In the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many customers were expressing concern about financial hardship and their ability to make their next mortgage payment, Wells Fargo made a decision to provide mortgage forbearances to certain customers who had made an inquiry or expressed hardship but had not explicitly requested a forbearance. A forbearance temporarily suspends a customer's obligation to make payments on their mortgage. However, some of the customers who received payment forbearances did not want them.

Plaintiffs allege that Wells Fargo placed customers into forbearance without informed consent. Plaintiffs contend that Wells Fargo's actions harmed certain customers if, for instance, the forbearance resulted in (a) a new credit application to be denied or (b) an increased interest rate or other credit cost on a new credit application. Wells Fargo denies any and all allegations of wrongdoing and does not admit or concede any actual or potential fault, wrongdoing, or liability in connection with any facts or claims that have been or could have been alleged in the lawsuit or in any similar action.

The Complaints filed in the lawsuit, which provide greater details about Plaintiffs' claims, can be viewed here.

Class action lawsuits allow a large number of people with a common claim to sue collectively while being represented by members of the group called the "Class Representatives." In this case, the Class Representatives have brought the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and others with similar claims. Together, all of the individuals with similar claims (with the exception of those who request exclusion or "opt out" from the Class) are referred to as "Class Members."

Plaintiffs and Class Counsel believe this Settlement provides a fair and reasonable resolution of the claims asserted in the lawsuit for the benefit of the Class.

The Court has not ruled in favor of either the Plaintiffs or Wells Fargo. Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement that they believe is a fair, reasonable, and adequate compromise of their respective positions. The parties reached this Settlement after litigating the case for over three years, conducting formal and informal discovery, and with the assistance of an experienced neutral mediator and former U.S. District Court judge.

By agreeing to the Settlement, the parties avoid the costs, delay, and uncertainty of further litigation, and Class Members receive the benefits described in the Notice.

Wells Fargo denies any wrongdoing and the Settlement shall in no event be construed or deemed to be evidence or an admission or concession on the part of Wells Fargo with respect to any claim or of any fault, liability, wrongdoing, or damage.

The "Settlement Class" or "Class" means all persons in the United States who (a) had a mortgage serviced by Wells Fargo that was placed into a COVID mortgage forbearance without adequate informed consent between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021 ("At-Issue Forbearance"); (b) were not a debtor or the co-borrower of a debtor in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on the date that the mortgage was placed into the forbearance; and (c) are not Wells Fargo's officers, directors, and employees, Counsel for Wells Fargo, Class Counsel, or any judge involved in this action or their immediate families. The Class and Class Members include all individuals who signed the deed of trust, mortgage, or other security document associated with a Mortgage, even if they did not sign the underlying promissory note or loan.

"Without adequate informed consent" is defined in the Settlement Agreement.

The Settlement Class also includes a "Stoff Subclass," which consists of persons who are both Class Members in this Settlement Class and who are also class members in Stoff v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Case No. 37-2020-00020808-CU-BT-CTL, currently pending in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Diego (the "Stoff Action").

Under the Settlement, Wells Fargo has agreed to establish a Settlement Fund totaling $185 million ($185,000,000.00) to provide the following benefits as consideration for the resolution and release of the Class Members' claims:

• The first $89 million ($89,000,000.00) will be distributed equally as Automatic Payments to Class Members who did not exclude themselves from the Settlement, pro rata based upon the number of mortgages placed into an At-Issue Forbearance. Class Members who are coborrowers on a Mortgage that received an At-Issue Forbearance will be treated as a single Class Member for the purposes of receiving an Automatic Payment; and
• In addition to the Automatic Payment, each Co-Borrower on a Mortgage that received an At-Issue Forbearance, and who did not exclude themself from the Settlement, will receive an additional $83.33 automatically ("Co-Borrower Payment"). The Co-Borrower Payment(s) shall be included in the Automatic Payment check distributed for the associated mortgage account.
• Class Members who did not exclude themselves from the Settlement and submitted a Claim Form by the January 10, 2025 deadline requesting additional compensation may be entitled to a supplemental award for damages proximately caused by the At-Issue Forbearance, including (a) delayed refinancing; (b) increased refinancing costs; (c) denial or reduction of personal credit lines and associated financial consequences; (d) inability to access existing lines of credit and costs for securing alternate funding; (e) lost income and/or lost business opportunity; or (f) any other damages caused by an At-Issue Forbearance. The Settlement Administrator shall have sole and final responsibility for validating the Claim Forms and determining the amounts of payments for individualized harms identified by the Class Members (the "Supplemental Payments").

The Settlement Fund will also be used to pay any Fee and Expense Awards to Plaintiffs' Counsel approved by the Court; any Service Awards to the Class Representatives approved by the Court; and the Settlement Administrator's costs and expenses to administer the Settlement.

If the Settlement Fund has Remaining Amounts after paying the Automatic Payments, Co-Borrower Payments, and Supplemental Payments to Class Members, any Fee and Expense Awards, any Service Awards, and the Settlement Administrator's Costs and Expenses, the funds will be distributed on a pro rata basis to Eligible Class Members who cashed a previous check; except if the amount would be under $10 each, in which case the Remaining Amounts shall be paid to a non-profit organization (cy pres recipient) approved by the Court or treated pursuant to state unclaimed funds procedures.

In return for the benefits in this Settlement, all Settlement Class Members release Wells Fargo from the claims discussed in the Agreement, and the Action has been dismissed with prejudice, among other terms.

The Settlement was approved by the Court and became effective February 15, 2025, and if you did not "opt out" or request exclusion from the Settlement, then you will release all claims against Wells Fargo.

However, as explained in further detail in FAQ 20, Stoff Subclass Members will not release Wells Fargo from the Stoff Action's claim for violation of the California Credit Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (Cal. Civ. Code § 1785.25[a]).

The Request for Exclusion must have been postmarked on or before Tuesday, November 12, 2024.

No. Unless you requested exclusion from the Settlement, you gave up the right to sue Wells Fargo, individually or as part of a class action, for the Class Released Claims that this Settlement resolves.

However, as explained in further detail in FAQ 20, Stoff Subclass Members will not release Wells Fargo from the Stoff Action's claim for violation of the CCRAA.

No. If you excluded yourself from the Settlement, you are not eligible to receive the Automatic Payment and additional Co-Borrower payment or submit a Claim for additional compensation from the Supplemental Payment Fund.

Yes. The Court has appointed the following law firms to represent you and the other Class Members as "Class Counsel". You can contact Class Counsel at the addresses or phone numbers listed below. They are:

You will not be charged for contacting these lawyers. If you want to be represented by a different lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

Plaintiffs' counsel applied to the Court for an award of attorneys' fees and costs to compensate them for their legal services and expenses incurred in this matter. The Court approved the fee award of 25% of the Settlement Fund, inclusive of expenses and costs, which will be paid out of the Settlement Fund by the Settlement Administrator. The application for an award of attorneys' fees and costs has been posted to this Settlement Website here.

The deadline to file an objection to this Settlement passed as of November 12, 2024 and the terms of the agreement have been approved. The Final Approval Order is available here.

You could only have objected to the Settlement if you are a Class Member. Requesting exclusion from the Settlement meant notifying the Court that you did not want to remain a Class Member. If you excluded yourself, you had no basis to object because the Settlement no longer affected you.

Upon Final Approval of the Settlement by the Court, each Class Member who did not request exclusion releases Wells Fargo from all claims asserted in the Action and from any and all past and/or present claims, lawsuits, and complaints of any kind resulting from, arising from, or relating in any way to the At-Issue Forbearances that Wells Fargo provided to the Class Members.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Stoff Subclass Members will not release Wells Fargo from the Stoff Action's claim for violation of the CCRAA. This carve out is limited to the Stoff Action's claim for violation of the CCRAA. In other words, Stoff Subclass Members who do not exclude themselves from the Settlement will release Wells Fargo from all other claims. Additionally, Wells Fargo reserves the right to argue in the Stoff Action that any payments received from the Settlement Fund should offset any potential recovery in the Stoff Action. Plaintiff Stoff reserves the right to argue in the Stoff Action that any payments received from the Settlement Fund should not offset any potential recovery in the Stoff Action.

This is a summary of the settlement release. You can find the full settlement release in the Settlement Agreement, which is available here.

The Court held a Final Approval Hearing on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. EST at the Joseph P. Kinneary Federal Courthouse located at 85 Marconi Boulevard, Columbus, OH 43215, in Courtroom 120.

At this Final Approval Hearing, the Court considered the Settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate and decided to approve the Settlement including Plaintiffs' Counsel for attorneys' fees and expenses related to the litigation and the Class Representative Service Awards.

The Court issued the Final Approval Order on December 19, 2024, which can be found here, and issued the final judgement on January 15, 2025 which can be found here.

This website and the Notice summarize the Settlement. More details regarding the terms of the Settlement can be found in the Settlement Agreement, which is available here. Updates, including any modifications to the schedule or this Settlement Agreement, will be posted on this Settlement Website.

You may also contact the Settlement Administrator by calling the toll-free number, 1-888-204-8399, or by writing to:

Wells Fargo Forbearance Litigation
Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 2794
Portland, OR 97208-2794