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The article discusses commentary from John Stumpf, chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co. Stumpf indicated that losses associated with his firm's acquisition of Wachovia Corp. have not deviated far from original projections. He also said the market for providing 30-year fixed mortgages continues to depend heavily on support from the U.S. government.

The article reports on the 3.3 billion U.S. dollars third-quarter 2010 earnings of Wells Fargo & Co. due to a surge in originating mortgages.

The article reports on a lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Co. by an employee who claimed that she signed foreclosure affidavits without her needing to examine them in 2010.

The article reports on the more than 200 million U.S. dollars that U.S. District Court of Northern California Judge William Alsup ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to pay its customers who he said were charged with excessive overdraft fees.

The article reports on the expected decrease in revenues of Wells Fargo & Co. in the third and fourth quarters of 2010 due to new regulations on overdraft and credit card fees in the U.S.

The article focuses on the decision of the bank Wells Fargo & Co. to issue interest-only loans that will defer the balances of U.S. borrowers for as long as six to 10 years. The eventual increase in housing prices and consumer income are expected by the bank to cover its Pick-A-Pay debt. Large writedowns on Pick-A-Pay mortgages are said to be avoided by Wells Fargo by moving its borrowers to interest-only loans. About 119.7 billion in the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) of Wells Fargo are from the acquisition of Wachovia Corp.

The article reports on higher profits posted by Wells Fargo & Co. in the third quarter of 2009 as it struggled with increasing loan losses in the U.S. According to the bank, its net income reached 3.2 billion dollars and noted the slowing growth rate in its nonperforming or uncollectible loans. Nonperforming loans at Wells Fargo rose by 28% to 23.5 billion dollars during the quarter. It notes that U.S. Bancorp has also seen improvement in its profit amid a challenging and uncertain economy.

The article reports on the move of U.S. lawmakers to push through with their plan of implementing broad restrictions on fee policies at banks despite the move of the banking industry to remove restrictions on certain account fees. Some of the banks that will eliminate overdraft fees for customers include Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. Also mentioned is the plan of Representatives Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney to request that Congress implement the rest of the provisions of the Credit Card Act to December 2009 from February 2010.

The article reports on the decision of Wells Fargo & Co. to raise the pay of its chief executive officer (CEO) and three other executives after receiving capital from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the U.S. Department of Treasury in 2008. The bank says that it had increased the annual base salaries of CEO John Stumpf, chief financial officer (CFO) Howard Atkins and two other senior officers. The move is based on the TARP rules that bar executives from selingl their stocks until the company repays the 25 billion dollars it received.

The article discusses quarterly earnings reports for several U.S. banks. Although Wells Fargo & Co. posted a profit, both U.S. Bancorp and SunTrust Banks Inc. reported losses. Loan losses at all three banks increased substantially. Wells Fargo saw its nonperforming loans increase 45% on a sequential basis.