Illinois Charges Wells Fargo Of Race Bias In Home Loan Originations; Minority Neighborhoods Became "Ground Zero For Subprime Lending" Says State AG

In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Sun Times reports:

• Illinois filed a lawsuit on Friday against Wells Fargo & Co. accusing it of discriminating against black and Latino homeowners by employing racially biased lending practices.(1) San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. allegedly sold high-cost subprime mortgage loans to minorities while white borrowers with similar incomes received lower-cost loans, according to the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “As a result of its discriminatory and illegal mortgage-lending practices, Wells Fargo transformed our cities’ predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods into ground zero for subprime lending,” Madigan said.

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• Madigan said the lawsuit was the first in the nation filed by an attorney general against Walls Fargo — though Baltimore and the NAACP have filed a similar suits.

For more, see State sues Wells Fargo for alleged loan bias.

For the Illinois Attorney General press release, see Madigan Sues Wells Fargo For Discriminatory And Deceptive Mortgage Lending Practices (Illinois Attorney General Alleges Lender Steered African-Americans, Latinos Into Subprime Loans).

For the lawsuit, see People v. Wells Fargo And Company, et al.

(1) The complaint alleges violations of the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Illinois Fairness in Lending Act, the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and asks the court to rescind all contracts entered into between Wells Fargo and Illinois consumers by the use of methods and practices declared unlawful and to grant full restitution to the consumers. DiscriminationPredatoryLendingAlpha