“No 1. home lender Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay at least $175 million to settle federal allegations that it systematically overcharged minorities during the frenzied housing boom, including steering African Americans and Latinos into more expensive subprime mortgages,” the LA Times E. Scott Reckard reported today.
“The agreement was announced Thursday by the Justice Department, which described it as the second-largest fair-lending settlement in the department’s history. (In the largest, reached last December, Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $335 million to settle claims against Countrywide Financial Corp., the aggressive Calabasas lender it acquired in 2008.)
“Asst. Atty. Gen. Thomas E. Perez said “a simple story” was at the core of the Justice Department’s complaint against Wells Fargo.
“If you were African American or Latino,” Perez said in prepared remarks, “you were more likely to be placed in a subprime loan or pay more for your mortgage loan, even though you were qualified and deserved better treatment.”
