Wachovia "pick-a-payment" class action lawsuit

vanity | 10-13-2011 | edcoil

[edcoil]

Anyone else get a check from the pick-a-payment settlement administrator on some class action lawsuit?

I did not even know there was a lawsuit going on and yet is says I have no further right to sue Wells Fargo or Wachovia.

I know we have laws in this country where two parties cannot contract with each other burdening or charging a third party they are not aware of.

[Longbow1969]

How much did you get? Like $1.85 or something? I’m sure the only people who benefited from the class action were the lawyers.

I think I got like .73 cents from First USA a long time ago. It came with a letter of apology. Weird because I can’t recall every signing anything to be part of the class action.

[KarlInOhio]

You probably got some postcard with a lot of fine print that said you had to respond if you didn't want to be part of the class action. I think I've responded to one of those once just because I thought the law suit was silly and I figured that I would cost the crooked lawyers some money by making them work to remove me form the list.

[USMCWife6869]

Are you sure you never got a notification and tossed it as junk mail? Several months ago, we got a class action suit notification regarding BofA because of that overdraft fee scandal they had. I haven’t heard anymore since. Also a few months ago, we got a check from a class action suit against a payday loan place we used ages ago. It was actually over $100. We had used the place in desperation many, many years ago. But I find that they tend to make the notifications look like junk mail. The only reason I had even opened the BofA is that we had just canceled our account, and I thought it was related to that.

[txrangerette]

I got a notice about one class action suit that I pursued. Since then, I’ve received several notices about other suits, which I have not pursued.

Reason? The rigamarole you have to go through, if it’s handled “by the book”, to establish you’re part of the class, and the check you get in return, and the waiting period, etc etc are not worth it. In the one I pursued, I got 30 bucks. The others were offering such tiny amounts, all considerably less than that.

The lawyers laughed all the way to their banks, though.

(Actually, the only plaintiffs that get anything significant are the original filers of the suit. Those who join in the class, after that, get nickels and dimes, and there’s documentation to be done for it.)

[Defiant]

There was a notice back in March about a proposed settlement. The settlement involved some money (most of which would pay lawyers) and a requirement that the bank (WFB or Wachovia) refinance the loans of people who were in danger of default. They had til the end of 2012 to refinance, and were required to give lower than market interest rates to the people to ensure they could afford the new mortgage.

The hearing to approve the settlement was scheduled to occur in April. I did not check to see what happened after this hearing, but my guess is the settlement went through. For more information, go to the web site mentioned in the letter you got, and determine which class you are part of, and, if you are eligible to refinance, decide if you want to.

It was an opt-out class action; if you didn't give them notice you didn't want to be represented, you were part of the action. If you didn't get notice of the action, you might be able to opt-out still, but if they sent notice to your address of record that is in the bank's records, that might be enough. In most of those agreements, there is an address that is valid for legal notices, and you have to contact them and change it if you move.