Wells Fargo Bank

A jury says Wells Fargo Bank overcharged its credit card customers $5.2 million in fees for making payments late and exceeding credit limits. The Superior Court verdict reached Tuesday, in the first of several similar suits against major banks, entitles holders of MasterCard and Visa cards from Wells Fargo between July, 1982, and May, 1987, to $4.1 million in refunds for late-payment fees and more than $1 million for over-limit fees.

The shareholder rejection of Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's $15-million pay package has some on Wall Street wondering if the same fate might be in store for the heads of other big U.S. banks. Both Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. will ask shareholders in the coming weeks to vote on a "say on pay" proposal. Corporate governance experts and activist shareholders expect that these votes will capture even more attention now that Citi's shareholders have said they want Pandit's compensation to be dialed back.

Four men who may be responsible for a string of bank robberies in south Orange County hit another bank Saturday morning in San Juan Capistrano, sheriff's officials said. While an accomplice waited in a getaway car, three men, at least two of whom were armed, stormed into the Wells Fargo Bank at 32222 Camino Capistrano about 10:30 a.m. and ordered people down, Sheriff's Lt. Larry Abbott said.

The job: Senior vice president in charge of Wells Fargo Bank's small business lending operation in the Los Angeles area at a time when small firms are struggling with the economic downturn. The passion: To reach out to small business owners and help them, whether they're just starting out, ready to grow or trying to survive tough times. "What drives me is my personal passion for … helping others achieve their financial dreams." Hard times: How tough is it to get a loan at Wells Fargo?

The FBI was searching Wednesday for a man between 25 and 30 years old who robbed an Ojai bank Tuesday afternoon. The man entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 202 E. Matilija St. about 3:15 p.m., demanded money from a teller and escaped on a motorcycle with an undisclosed amount of cash, the FBI said. The man presented a note demanding money, but made no reference to a weapon.

Continuing the recent string of San Fernando Valley bank robberies, a man held up a branch of Wells Fargo bank Wednesday. The unidentified man walked into the Van Nuys branch on the 6600 block of Van Nuys Boulevard shortly before 10 a.m. and passed a note to a bank teller demanding cash, said LAPD spokesman Eduardo Fune.

An Oxnard branch of Wells Fargo Bank was held up by a robber Wednesday, the fourth time the branch has been the target of robbers this year, authorities said. The robbery occurred at noon when a man wearing black sweats, a blue nylon jacket and a white baseball cap entered the bank at 460 E. Esplanade Drive and handed a demand note to a teller, said Oxnard Police Sgt. Lee Wilcox. The robber fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, he said.

Shelley Thompson has been named an executive vice president by Wells Fargo Bank. She heads the San Francisco-based bank's Private Banking Group, which is headquartered in Los Angeles. The Private Banking Group is California's oldest trust organization with more than $13 billion in trust assets and more than $10 billion in custody assets under management. Thompson joined Wells Fargo in 1987. * Robert G.

Stock Exchange lets readers listen in as Times staff writers James Peltz and Michael Hiltzik debate merits of individual stocks. Wells Fargo (WFC) (Jim: Don't Buy) (Mike: Buy) * Jim: This is the big bank that's been around California for 150 years. But as you know, Mike, today's Wells Fargo was created two years ago when a Minneapolis-based bank called Norwest bought the old Wells Fargo but kept the name and Wells Fargo's San Francisco headquarters.

Wells Fargo Bank's massive remodeling job is providing a boon to nonprofit groups looking for used furniture, and an organization in Santa Ana is one of two distribution points in the state that the bank is using. Under a long-term contract, the bank is donating about 200 pieces of furniture every week to the Volunteer Center of Orange County.

Many Americans have turned their backs on foreign stocks this year. Those who did have saved themselves from worse pain in their portfolios. The double whammy of sinking foreign markets and a surging dollar has made for miserable returns for U.S. investors in many foreign-stock mutual funds -- compounding last year's heavy losses. The trend worsened Tuesday after credit-rating firm Moody's Investors Service warned of rising loan woes for Eastern European banks, which Moody's said would mean more trouble for the Western European parents of those banks.

Democracy -- now available at a Wells Fargo near you. In a unique move intended to expand the pool of poll workers and polling sites, the Orange County registrar of voters Wednesday announced a "corporate sponsorship" deal with Wells Fargo. Under the agreement, the bank will provide employees to be trained as poll workers to man the ballot boxes Nov. 4. Vote-by-mail paperwork is available at Orange County Wells Fargo branches, and banks can be used as polling sites in future elections.

Wells Fargo & Co. reduced mortgage fees and interest rates to attract many Southern California customers beginning in 2002 but didn't offer the same deals through offices in certain minority neighborhoods, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit. The complaint, filed Friday, contends that borrowers from Latino and black areas were systematically charged more than those with similar credit profiles in adjacent areas, violating consumer-protection and civil rights laws.

Wells Fargo & Co., already under fire from California banking regulators for allegedly improper lending practices, today will face protesters throughout the country, organized by an advocacy group that has made life difficult for a number of financial institutions. The Assn.

A $1-million donation from Wells Fargo Bank will fund a teacher-training program and a small-business center at Cal State Northridge, the university announced Monday. The gift will be shared equally by the university's Michael D. Eisner College of Education and the College of Business and Economics. Scholarships for education students will allow them to earn a bachelor's degree and teaching credential in about the same time as a regular degree.

A $1-million donation from Wells Fargo Bank will fund a teacher-training program and a small-business center at Cal State Northridge, the university announced Monday. The gift will be shared equally by the university's Michael D. Eisner College of Education and the College of Business and Economics. New scholarships for future teachers will allow them to earn a bachelor's degree and teaching credential in about the same time as a regular degree.

A group protesting the refusal of a bank executive to meet with them kept tellers busy at a Studio City branch of Wells Fargo on Saturday, literally counting their pennies. The protesters from Valley United in Community Efforts (VOICE) said they gathered at the bank to call attention to their unmet demand for a meeting with Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer Paul Hazen.

Unable to reach an agreement about a past-due, $51-million construction loan, Wells Fargo Bank has begun foreclosure proceedings against a 12-story office tower owned by the Koll Co. and a partner. The tower is one of twin buildings in the Koll Center Irvine North at Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard. The complex, ironically, is also home to Wells Fargo's Orange County headquarters.

Wells Fargo Bank wants to sell Aon Center in Los Angeles, one of the West's tallest skyscrapers, for $120 million to $130 million, downtown real estate sources said. The 62-story building at 707 Wilshire Blvd. is 79% occupied, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. Tenants include Aon Corp. and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank One Corp. said second-quarter profit grew on credit card fees and increased demand for consumer loans, including mortgages. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, had net income of $1.42 billion, or 82 cents a share, after a loss in the same period last year. Bank One, the sixth-biggest U.S. bank, said profit climbed 27% to $843 million, or 71 cents a share, from $664 million, or 56 cents, a year ago.