Homeowner forecloses on Wells Fargo, did the underdog win?

This week, we brought you the story of the Philadelphia homeowner who spent several years trying to get answers from Wells Fargo as to why his homeowner’s insurance skyrocketed ($1M in coverage allegedly demanded for a $180k house) and mystery charges appeared on his bill (two home inspections charged when none occurred). Rather than refuse to pay as most would, Patrick Rodgers sued.

He won a small claims suit and used that suit to file for a foreclosure on the local Wells Fargo branch that had been ignoring him. He won and had been given Sheriff’s sale posters to put up around town.

He is being called a folk hero and America waited anxiously to learn how his meeting with a “high up” Wells Fargo executive went prior to the impending court date set for this week as the courts put the branch sale on temporary hold.

A settlement has been reached. Wells Fargo has agreed to reverse thousands of dollars it has charged him for the homeowner’s insurance policy for $1,000,000 which Wells Fargo publicly claimed they never demanded.

“I’m certainly pleased that it’s over – it was an enormous drain,” Rodgers told Jeff Gelles of Philly.com. “I wish it had been resolved at an earlier juncture without the need for litigation.”

“This is a recognition of our miscommunication,” a Wells Fargo executive told Gelles.

Wells Fargo has pledged to undo any damage to his credit and to pay down his mortgage by a sum Rodgers said “will adequately compensate me for all the time and energy I put into the legal actions.”

Wells Fargo maintains they never required the $1,000,000 in coverage while Rodgers calls their position “creative semantics.”

Neither party is giving much detail about the final agreement, but Rodgers is pleased with the outcome despite having to take such a public and litigious route and all can agree that a much larger settlement could have been reached.

Our sources here in Austin that know Rodgers personally say they are not surprised that he played the role of the underdog so admirably and didn’t aim for more than he was wronged. Stories like this don’t happen every day, but in this situation we’d say Rodgers won.