Wells Fargo Ordered to Pay$155,000 for Foreclosure Lockout

A Suffolk County New York Supreme Court Judge recently ordered Wells Fargo to pay a homeowner $150,000 in exemplary damages, $4,892 for lost property damages and $200 for trespass damages due to its conduct in handling a foreclosure against one of its homeowners. You can read the text of the Court's decision here.

During a foreclosure action against one of its homeowners, a Wells Fargo agent entered onto the homeowner's property without prior notice to the homeowner and changed the locks, thereby locking him out. After the homeowner told the foreclosure attorney that he prohibited Wells Fargo from entering onto the property again, a Wells Fargo agent entered onto the property and some of his personal property was missing.

Wells Fargo attempted to defend its conduct by arguing that the mortgage allowed them to enter onto the property to safeguard and secure it. According to Wells Fargo they can also enter the property where there was evidence that the property was abandoned. The Court summarily dismissed these arguments by specifically finding that there was no evidence at all that the homeowner had abandoned his property and that under the terms of the mortgage, the bank could only enter the property 1) under reasonable circumstances AND 2) when it had FIRST given notice in advance of its entry.  Wells Fargo had never given notice to the homeowner before it's lock-out and trash-out of the property.  

Wells Fargo's lockout without prior notice is not uncommon when a homeowner is behind on his or her mortgage OR even when the bank mistakenly believes that the loan is in default due to missapplication of mortgage payments or some other internal accounting error.  Homeowners can learn more about how to protect themselves from illegal lockouts and trashouts from our FREE Report. 

Legal Help for Wrongful Foreclosure and Seizure in Any State.  Phillips & Garcia, P.C., a leading law firm in wrongful foreclosure and seizure cases, is now taking cases in any state where there has been a wrongful foreclosure, lock-out and trash-out of a borrower's home.  Although we are licensed in Massachusetts, weassociate with a qualified attorney in your state.