Wells Fargo and mortgage unit sued for $39.5mn in Oregon
A $39.5mn lawsuit has been filed against Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for alleged credit defamation by Amy Baldin in a court in Oregon.  The complaint states that the bank refused to accept her mortgage payments and routinely reported derogatory information to the national credit reporting agencies.  It has been revealed that the bank has regularly brought motions to dismiss the case but has so far lost every time.
A $39.5 million lawsuit was filed by Amy Baldin against Wells Fargo Bank and its mortgage servicing division Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for alleged credit defamation in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon (Amy Baldin v. Wells Fargo, et al., Case Number 3:12-CV-00648-AC). The complaint alleges that a number of years ago, Amy and a co-borrower secured a mortgage loan from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage on a 1-4 family residential property located in Multnomah County, Oregon. The complaint further states that Wells Fargo Bank repeatedly refused to accept her mortgage payments on this fully performing loan. The complaint also states that the bank created what Amy calls a “Black Hole Account” on another one of her mortgage loans, where instead of crediting payments the bank reversed past mortgage payments and funneled them into so-called “Unapplied Funds Account” and immediately reported to the credit agencies the alleged delinquencies. The complaint states that, in its answer, Defendant Wells Fargo alleges that they were within their rights to accelerate the loan after Plaintiff’s properties were conveyed to an alleged corporation and then into an alleged trust.

The complaint alleges that the bank refused to accept her mortgage payments and routinely reported derogatory information to the national credit reporting agencies as if Amy wasn’t paying her loans. Early in the litigation, the Federal Court issued an injunction prohibiting Wells Fargo Bank from reporting negative information to these credit agencies. Wells Fargo, however, violated this injunction twice, each time issuing a new round of negative reporting and sending Amy’s credit scores lower and lower as revealed in court papers filed by the Plaintiff. Per court documents, after repeated violations of the injunction, the court ordered monetary sanctions against Wells Fargo.

Court documents reveal that the bank, with its vast resources, has regularly brought motions to dismiss this case and has lost each time. Per court documents, the bank’s latest motion is an attempt to prevent the case from going to a jury trial. A decision from the court is expected soon.

Michael O’Rourke of O’Rourke Law Group, PC is an attorney in Redmond, WA, representing the Plaintiff, Amy Baldin in this case. O’Rourke Law Group, PC represents clients in consumer rights, corporate and immigration matters.