Wells Fargo facing lawsuit after firing father of dying cancer patient

[88m3]

Wells Fargo is facing a lawsuit for firing an employee whose daughter needed expensive cancer treatment. Three days before his daughter was scheduled to go into surgery, the distressed father was left without health care or life insurance.

The hospital immediately canceled the August 2010 surgery after the man lost his job. Seven months later, the young girl died of cancer.

“This was a loss of an innocent child’s life,” the former employee’s lawyer told the Huffington Post. “There were [some] Wells Fargo employees who not only lacked compassion but seemed to have been motivated by entirely improper concerns about finances.”

Wells Fargo allegedly fired mortgage consultant Yovany Gonzalez because his daughter’s medical costs were too high. Before he was let go, the bank and its health insurer, United Health Care, questioned the man’s wife about daughter Mackenzie’s cancer treatment.

The health insurer repeatedly asked about the costs of the treatment. At the same time, the employee’s supervisor told Gonzalez that Wells Fargo was trying to find a reason to fire him.

Soon thereafter, Wells Fargo dismissed Gonzalez, claiming he falsified his time records – even though his supervisor had input the time records and approved them.

The man lost not only his health insurance plan, but also his family’s life insurance coverage. When the young Mackenzie passed away, her family received no life insurance compensation.

The lawsuit states that Wells Fargo had initially promised to give Gonzales information about how to continue his family’s life insurance coverage, but the bank never followed through with it.

Additionally, under the Continuation of Health Coverage (COBRA) law, employer health insurance can be extended as long as the full premium is paid. But Wells Fargo failed to send Gonzalez information about how to extent his health insurance until 90 days had passed.

Gonzalez was forced to accept money from a charity to pay for the expensive premium that would give him a year of health insurance coverage.

Now, Gonzalez has lost his daughter and works for Chase Bank for less pay than at his previous job, due to reasons Wells Fargo gave for firing him.

Without health insurance, medical treatment in the US can be expensive. A recent study found that in 2010, more than 26,000 Americans died prematurely because they could not afford health care without insurance.

Although the COBRA law allows recently fired employees to extend their health insurance, only those who can afford the expensive premium payment have that option.

And while Gonzalez succeeded to reacquire health insurance, he will not be able to bring back his daughter.

Wells Fargo facing lawsuit after firing father of dying cancer patient over healthcare costs — RT

Anyone feel like defending Wells Fargo again?

 

[Family Man]

Wells Fargo facing lawsuit after firing father of dying cancer patient over healthcare costs — RT

Anyone feel like defending Wells Fargo again?

There were people actually defending Wells?

 

[88m3]

There were people actually defending Wells?

A lot of c00ns post here.

I'm referring to when I shared the story of Wells Fargo practicing predatory lending to minorities in Virgina or Maryland. They payed a fine to hush it up. People came at me with the "why should I stop banking with them", "everyone does it", "it's not Wells Fargo's fault!".

Wells Fargo pledges $425 million in lending to settle suit - May. 30, 2012

The $26 billion crapshoot

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, Wells Fargo said that it, too, was under investigation from the Justice Department for allegedly violating fair lending laws and could face civil claims as a result.

"We believe such claims should not be brought and continue seeking to demonstrate to the Department of Justice our compliance with fair lending laws," the bank said. To top of page

In 'Financial Tragedy' Wells Fargo to Pay $175M Over Predatory Lending Allegations
July 13, 2012 RSS Feed Print
A customer exits a Wells Fargo bank branch in Los Angeles, Calif.

A customer exits a Wells Fargo bank branch in Los Angeles, Calif.

Wells Fargo will pony up $175 million to compensate more than 30,000 minority borrowers who were allegedly steered into riskier, more expensive loans during the heyday of the housing boom, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The Justice Department alleges the nation's largest residential home mortgage lender charged African-American and Latino borrowers higher rates and fees for home loans, even when they qualified for better terms.

The DOJ claims are based on a statistical survey of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage loans made between 2004 and 2009.

The bank denies claims that its mortgage brokers discriminated against African-American and Latino borrowers, but agreed to pay $125 million to those the DOJ believes were adversely impacted by the bank's lending practices, according to a statement released by Wells Fargo. Another $50 million is earmarked for homebuyer assistance programs in communities across the country that were hit hard by the housing crisis as well as those that were disproportionately impacted by the alleged discriminatory lending practices.

[Read: Mortgage Rates Break New Barrier.]

But the announcement is bittersweet for some industry observers. While the DOJ is being cheered for leading the charge into investigating troubling patterns in bank lending, the resulting settlement is seen as "too little, too late" by some.

"While we're really glad to see this and really commend the DOJ, bank regulators should and could have acted years earlier," says Kathleen Day, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending. "The people who lost their homes because they got bad loans, it will take them generations to recover."

"It's a financial tragedy," Day adds.

On the heels of the settlement announcement, Wells Fargo announced it would discontinue its wholesale branch of mortgage origination—which made up about 5 percent of its home loan business—citing concerns about the bank's inability to monitor and manage how brokers conduct business with clients.

[Read: Asking Prices Find Foothold, Rents Continue to Climb.]

"[W]e are fully committed to fair and responsible lending … [t]hrough our separate decision to no longer fund mortgages through independent mortgage brokers, we can control how that commitment is met on every mortgage that Wells Fargo makes," the company said in a statement.

Mortgage industry experts expect more firms to follow in Wells Fargo's footsteps.

"The settlement addresses alleged Fair Housing violations," Dan Green, a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage and author of TheMortgageReports.com, wrote in an e-mail. "As a wholesaler, it's nearly impossible to ensure Fair Housing compliance."

Meg Handley is a business reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can reach her at mhandley@usnews.com and follow her on Twitter.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ho...o-pay-175m-over-predatory-lending-allegations

 

[88m3]

Wells Fargo has been hit with at least four major court actions alleging predatory practices on the part of its loan officers -- a lawsuit from the city of Baltimore, in which Jacobson's testimony plays a key role; a separate lawsuit from the city of Memphis; a probe from the Department of Justice; and civil charges from the Federal Reserve, accusing Wells Fargo of pushing thousands of minority borrowers into subprime contracts

.

None of this was without consequences. Black and Latino homeowners were 70 percent more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure in the three years leading up to 2010.

Beth Jacobson, Ex-Wells Fargo Employee, Alleges Bank Employed Predatory Lending Practices

 

[88m3]

c00ns

 

[Techniec]

america

Rip to the girl tho

 

[88m3]

upping for the jiggaboos that post here

 

[FaTaL]

wells fargo

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

I opened an account with them when they were Wachovia.

Had that shyt open for one week and closed it.

 

[Black Miller]

so sad to hear- my heart goes out to him and his family. i worked for wachovia right before wells fargo took over (2 years) so many questionable practices there- i resigned right before the merger went official

 

[Fervid]

They're all crooked though.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

Why is anyone surprised? This is what happens when the #1 thing that matters in this world is MONEY. Everything else is secondary. Especially when it comes to corporations filled with thousands of employees, no one person feels responsible because there are so many other employees.

edit: Also I can't find this story on any other news sites. Are you sure its reputable?

 

[Angel On The Rag]

that's dumb logic

cancer for the most part is due to ones lifestyle, so blaming a company for not needing their work is reaching

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

that's dumb logic

cancer for the most part is due to ones lifestyle, so blaming a company for not needing their work is reaching

1 in 3 people get cancer during their lifetime