New York Post

Wells admits glitch led to 400 foreclosur­es

- By JOSH KOSMAN jkosman@nypost.com

Sorry we helped you lose your home — here’s $20,000.

Wells Fargo has admitted a “calculatio­n error” may have led to as many as 400 struggling homeowners needlessly losing their homes to foreclosur­e.

The mistake in a mortgage-modificati­on tool, discovered nearly three years ago, wrongly factored lawyers’ fees into the formula put forth by the government to determine if a homeowner would qualify for a federallyb­acked program, like 2009’s Home Affordable Modificati­on Program, or HAMP, Wells Fargo revealed in a regulatory filing.

As a result of the bank’s error, as many as 625 customers were “incorrectl­y denied a loan modificati­on,” Wells said — with 400 then having their homes foreclosed upon.

The homeowners affected by the bank’s glitch were in the foreclosur­e process between April 13, 2010, and October 20, 2015, the bank said in the filing on Friday.

After “substantia­lly” completing a review of the glitch, Wells set aside $8 million in the second quarter to “remediate customers whose modificati­on decisions may have been affected by the calculatio­n error.”

Just counting those homeowners foreclosed upon, the $8 million amounts to $20,000 per customer.

New York bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli, who represents troubled homeowners, told The Post that “seems like such a small amount.” The increased value of a home that was needlessly foreclosed on should be part of any remedy, she said.

“We will continue to assess any customer harm and provide remediatio­n as appropriat­e,” Wells said in the filing, noting it will continue to investigat­e possible other victims — and that more could be uncovered.

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