Wells Fargo introduces The Truth About Wells Fargo documents about its lending practices. National People’s Action, a project of the National Training and Information Center, will deliver the report today with more than five hundred of its members.
While Wells Fargo & Company would like to sweep their subprime lending history under the rug, it issued many types of problematic loan products at the center of the American foreclosure crisis, including $27 billion in subprime loans in 2006 alone.
The Truth About Wells Fargo: Irresponsible Lending and African Americans, examines Wells Fargo’s lending record, between 2004-2007 as reported in the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The report highlights the discriminatory practices of the bank including:
African Americans in all income brackets received a greater number of high cost loans and refinance rates than lower income borrowers of other races.
-34% of middle- and upper-income African American borrowers received high cost loans, a higher percentage than low- and middle-income borrowers of other races.
-64% of the refinanced loans made to low- to middle-income African Americans were high cost, as compared to 48% for Whites and 50% for Latinos.
-45% of all refinance loans received by African American borrowers were high cost, compared to 19% for White borrowers.
The loans made to African Americans were more expensive than the “high cost” loans made to others.
In real dollars, this means that African Americans have paid $137 million more to Wells Fargo than White borrowers have paid.
“The numbers speak for themselves. The fact that a bank with clear disparities in its lending practices can receive $25 billion in federal bank bailout money raises real questions about racial justice in this country,” says George Goehl, executive director, National People’s Action.
L.D.