Illinois Sues Wells Fargo
July 31, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
Wells Fargo & Co. has a new lawsuit to deal with, this time facing the state of Illinois after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused Wells Fargo of bias. According to Madigan’s lawsuit, Wells Fargo intentionally directed African-Americans and Latinos toward the infamous subprime mortgages, knowing aware of the high costs of these mortgages.
Madigan has stated that Wells Fargo is responsible for turning Illinois’ primarily black and Latino neighborhoods into strongholds for the controversial subprime mortgages. These allegedly illegal sales practices have overwhelmingly led to foreclosures in these neighborhoods, forcing otherwise innocent families out on the street because of Wells Fargo’s duplicity.
While minorities were being steered toward subprime mortgages, whites were offered lower-cost mortgages, says Madigan. In addition to Madigan’s lawsuit, two black homeowners in Chicago filed a class-action lawsuit in a federal court in the Northern District of California, claiming racial discrimination in Wells Fargo’s fees.
San-Francisco-based Wells Fargo is the second-largest mortgage lender and the fifth-largest bank in the United States.
Wells Fargo Center (Image: Flickr)
