On July 12, 2012, Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, agreed to settle with the Justice Department to resolve allegations that it steered black and Hispanic borrowers into subprime loans when similarly qualified white borrowers received mortgages with lower rates.
The settlement requires Wells Fargo to provide $125 million to borrowers, $50 million in down-payment assistance in hard-hit regions where Justice found evidence of discrimination, and additional compensation to blacks and Hispanics who were wrongly placed into subprime loans.
It seems every few weeks DOJ zaps another bank for discrimination. The pattern is always the same – big bank, discrimination against black and Hispanic borrowers, pricing discrimination, and a big expensive settlement. DOJ apparently has a big cookie cutter. They stamp out one settlement agreement after another, as quickly as they can.
