US bank Wells Fargo has agreed to pay around $34 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had imposed improper credit card processing charges on around 96,000 merchants in California over a four year period, according to press reports.
According to a report by the LA Times, the settlement amounts to a partial return of what the plaintiffs called "junk fees" which were not properly disclosed beforehand and not explained to them later.
The paper says the charges included extra fees imposed by the bank when merchants failed to swipe a payment card and manually punched in the numbers instead.
Lawyers working on the case also reportedly said that other fees were charged for submitting paperwork late and failing to provide a customers address as a verification of identity.
Wells Fargo has agreed to pay at least $19 million and as much as $34 million to settle the claims, covering charges made from March 1999 through to March 2003, says The LA Times.
The bank claims that is has always made full disclosures to merchants about its billing practices.