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Wells-Fargo Settles Lawsuit Over Credit Card Processing Fees
August 14 - Wells Fargo & Co., the No. 5 U.S. bank, agreed to pay as much as $34 million to settle a California lawsuit accusing it of charging excessive credit card processing fees to businesses. The class-action settlement resolves allegations that some 96,000 California businesses were overcharged from March 1999 and March 2003.
It calls for the bank to pay between $19 million and $34 million. Wells Fargo denied wrongdoing, but agreed to improve employee training and disclosures. Merchants accused San Francisco-based Wells Fargo of extracting a variety of fees it never disclosed, and failing to explain the fees when asked. Merchants were charged extra when they punched in card numbers by hand rather than submit them electronically. They were also charged for such things as not providing customer addresses, filing paperwork too slowly, or not transmitting transactions in bulk.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said it was pleased with the settlement, adding that it "has always made full disclosures to merchants" about billing practices.
Credit card associations are a common target for merchants. Several major supermarket and drugstore chains, including Kroger Co. and Walgreen Co., last month sued Visa International, accusing it of price-fixing.
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