Financial Crisis

Lawsuit: Wells Fargo Targeted Blacks For Subprime Loans

Zachary Roth | June 9, 2009, 5:08PM

In the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, the unsavory and sometimes illegal business practices of the mortgage lenders at the vanguard of the subprime trend have slowly been coming to light. But new claims in a lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo by the city of Baltimore -- and reported in the last week by the Baltimore Sun and New York Times -- are pretty shocking nonetheless.

The suit accuses Wells Fargo of using a range of deceptive practices to push high-interest, subprime loans onto African-Americans in Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs, leading hundreds into foreclosure. The claims come largely from two former Wells Fargo loan officers, who submitted signed affidavits filed last week.

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