Wells Fargo closer to $142 million settlement

A California judge has granted a preliminary approval for Wells Fargo and Co.'s agreement to pay $142 million, and perhaps more, to customers whose credit scores were harmed by its employees creating fake accounts in their names, the bank said on Sunday.

Wells Fargo has set aside that money to compensate customers who are part of a class-action lawsuit involving claims regarding consumer or small business bank accounts, credit cards or loans, as well as identity theft protection, between May 2002 and April of this year.

It plans to begin reaching out to those affected customers soon.

In the 'unlikely event” that there are so many claims, and there is not $25 million left over to distribute across all customers involved in the lawsuit, Wells Fargo said it will pay more.

The bank reached the settlement in April, according to a regulatory filing, but the judge's preliminary approval moves the deal to the next step.