Wells Fargo’s Stagecoach to Hell

By Ken Silverstein

From the Baltimore Sun:

Wells Fargo loan officers guided minorities toward high-rate mortgages and joked that they were “riding the stagecoach to hell” for routinely steering prime-loan-qualified customers toward subprime loans, according to sworn declarations by two former employees, filed in federal court this week.

The affidavits were offered as evidence in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Baltimore last year and amended Monday, alleging “tens of millions” of dollars in losses from racist, predatory lending, known as “reverse redlining”- the targeting of minority borrowers, regardless of credit history, for unfavorable subprime loans. The city says the practice led to increased foreclosures, vacant properties and crime in black communities.

“Our minority residents and homeowners, many of whom were first-time buyers, were led down a disastrous primrose path by Wells Fargo, one of the biggest lenders in the city of Baltimore,” City Solicitor George Nilson said in an interview Wednesday.”We’re trying to do what we can to get some kind of redress.”