Darn it, those people at Wells Fargo have the worst luck. There they were, in the middle of the "reimagining" of their company all over television, and some gremlin gets into the works and makes Wells Fargo look as though it's still picking people's pockets again. From CNN, via Reuters:

Hundreds of people had their homes foreclosed on after software used by Wells Fargo incorrectly denied them mortgage modifications. The embattled bank revealed the issue in a regulatory filing this week and said it has set aside $8 million to compensate customers affected by the glitch. Wells Fargo said the computer error affected "certain accounts" that were undergoing the foreclosure process between April 2010 and October 2015, when the issue was corrected.

About 625 customers were incorrectly denied a loan modification or were not offered one even though they were qualified, according to the filing. In about 400 cases, the customers were ultimately foreclosed upon. Wells Fargo said in a statement that it was "very sorry that this error occurred" and said it was "providing remediation" to the affected customers.

At times like this, it's best to consult the relentless David Dayen, who's been dogging the crimes and swindles of the mortgage industry for going on a decade now. When the news of this latest Wells Fargo episode broke, Dayen took to the electric Twitter machine to explain (again) how he does not believe in either accidents or coincidence when it comes to the lycanthropes of America's financial system. It is yet another measure of the fathomless institutional arrogance of these people that Wells Fargo, of all lenders, could expect anyone to believe that they foreclosed on 400 homes because of a software glitch.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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