NEW YORK — Wells Fargo & Co. may be added to the list of big mortgage companies that use "robo-signers" to execute piles of foreclosures.
In a deposition for a lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Fla., an employee in Wells Fargo's sprawling mortgage servicing business said she signed "hundreds" of foreclosure affidavits a day without verifying the documents' information, as her signature would imply.
The San Francisco bank had until recently avoided the revelations of improper foreclosure practices that have dogged large competitors like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and government-controlled Ally Bank. A number of banks and mortgage servicers have issued moratoriums on foreclosure sales while they review how they process foreclosures.
Wells Fargo is "doing some additional reviews to make sure everything we've done is accurate and appropriate," said Tom Goyda, a spokesman for the bank. "Our records show that our foreclosure affidavits are accurate."
JPMorgan said Wednesday it hasn't found evidence that it has evicted any borrowers who shouldn't have lost their homes.
Shares of Wells Fargo were down 4.7% to $24.61 in midday trading.
The deposition offers evidence that some Wells Fargo workers who sign the bank's legally sworn foreclosure affidavits have no idea if the statements, which included such details as outstanding principle and interest balances, are correct. Goyda said Wells Fargo moves to correct problems when "we find team members that do not follow procedure."
Xee Moua, an employee who processed documents at a Wells Fargo office in Fort Mill, S.C., said she signed as many as 500 foreclosure affidavits a day without verifying information on the documents, apart from her name and title.
"Do you verify any of the numbers that may be on some of these documents?" a lawyer asked her in the deposition.
"I do not," Moua said. "That's not part of my job."
The attorney also asked: "You're swearing that everything in it is accurate, correct?" Moua replied: "Yes sir."
She said her job description is to "oversee that these documents are executed and returned in a timely manner to our attorneys."
Wells Fargo's spokesman would not comment on whether Moua still works at the bank.
