More than 250,000 homeowners who had loans serviced by Wells between 2005 and 2010 and paid for this type of appraisal could receive at least $120 each.

Under its mortgage servicing agreement, Wells can require borrowers who default on their loan to provide an informal estimate of the home’s value, usually from a real estate broker.

Starting in 2001, Wells Fargo began ordering these “broker price opinions” through an internal group named Premiere Asset Services, according to an amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland in July 2012. That group would typically pay brokers $50 for the opinion, but charge borrowers $95 to $125, the suit said.

“Our complaint alleges that the note that people signed when they took out the loans said the lender could pass through the amounts they pay a third-party to value the property. It was intended to be a pass-through. Our first allegation was they they were not allowed to mark it up,” said Roland Tellis, an attorney with Baron & Budd, which represented plaintiffs. The second was that Wells Fargo did not disclose the fees on mortgage statements.

The suit claimed that Wells Fargo violated the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, under which plaintiffs are eligible for treble damages and attorney’s fees. Wells Fargo and Premier Asset Services “got together and executed a scheme designed to hide the fact they were overcharging,” Tellis said. The RICO claim was certified as a class action in December.

Wells Fargo settled the suit without admitting guilt. “While we believe our practices related to Broker Price Opinions were proper and disagree with the claims in the lawsuit, we have agreed to settle the matter to avoid further litigation,” Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Goyda said in an email.

The settlement comes as Wells is trying to repair damage caused by revelations that it fired about 5,300 employees for allegedly creating more than 2 million fake deposit or credit card accounts without customer’s knowledge to meet aggressive sales quotes.

The mortgage-servicing settlement, which needs court approval, covers at least 250,000 U.S. residents who had a home mortgage serviced by Wells Fargo Bank or its subsidiaries and paid for a marked-up broker’s price opinion between May 6, 2005, and July 1, 2010.

Wells Fargo stopped using its internal group to perform and mark up opinions in July 2010, according to court documents.

Class members do not have to file a claim to receive a payment; it will be mailed to them. After costs and attorneys’ fees, class members will share at least $33 million in damages, Tellis said. Each member will get the same amount. If there are 275,000 members, each will get about $120 initially.

If some people don’t cash their checks, that money will be put back into the pot and distributed evenly among the people who did, Tellis said.

He estimated that about half of the class members still have the mortgages for which they were charged the fee. The other half either paid off the loan or were foreclosed on.

It’s not unusual for banks to require and charge borrowers for a broker’s price opinion when they fall behind in their payments, but Tellis said he thinks most banks hire an outside middleman to hire the brokers.

His firm has filed a similar class-action suit against Ocwen Financial and Ocwen Loan Servicing.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]