Wells Fargo Refuses to Settle Fannie, Freddie Refund Demands

Wells Fargo & Co. will not seek a settlement with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on disputed mortgages, and terms offered to rival banks may not have been as generous as some portrayed, Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. "The quality of our securitizations was of a much higher caliber than all of the other large bank peers," Atkins said today in an interview. "It doesn't make sense for us to pay up to get rid of the remaining small amount of problems we have." Prodded by lawmakers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have pressed banks including Wells Fargo to buy back mortgages that were based on faulty data about the homes and borrowers. Wells Fargo said yesterday in its fourth-quarter report that demands from the government-owned mortgage companies declined for a second straight quarter and now stand at $1.5 billion.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-01-19/wells-fargo-refuses-to-settle-fannie-freddie-buyback-demands-atkins-says.html