Wells Fargo Loan Discrimination Class Action

Jury selection began this week in Los Angeles Superior Court in a lending discrimination class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. An estimated 7,000 borrowers who obtained home loans from Wells Fargo branch locations in minority Los Angeles communities are expected to qualify as class members in the lawsuit, which accuses Wells Fargo of knowingly discriminating against borrowers in minority areas, resulting in these borrowers paying more for their loans than borrowers in other parts of Los Angeles County.

According to the Wells Fargo lending discrimination class action lawsuit, entitled Opal Jones, et. Al v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Wells Fargo introduced a computer program in 2002 called “Loan Economics” that gave loan officers the ability to provide better loan terms and rates to home loan applicants by reducing fees and interest rates. The Wells Fargo class action alleges that branches in predominately white communities could use the program to offer competitive loans, while bank branches in predominately minority communities were prevented from doing so by Wells Fargo management. The result, the lawsuit says, is that borrowers in minority locations were given higher-priced loans than other borrowers, a direct violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

“Wells Fargo management continually denied requests by minority area branch loan officers to use the program so they could offer lower-cost loans to minority borrowers, even when the borrowers were well qualified,” an attorney representing the plaintiffs said.

Class members in the Wells Fargo loan class action lawsuit are defined as borrowers who obtained a first trust deed-secured home loan from Wells Fargo Bank or Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for more than $150,000 between May 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005. Loans must not have been a home equity loan and class members must have applied for their loans at Wells Fargo branches located within specific areas of Los Angeles County, which are detailed in the Class Action Notice and on the Settlement Administrator’s website, listed below.

Class members who chose not to opt out of the class action lawsuit settlement by the deadline of May 15, 2010 are eligible to receive statutory damages of $4,000 per loan. Qualified borrowers who did not opt out are automatically included in the class action lawsuit settlement.

For more information on the Wells Fargo Lending Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit, including a map of the branches included in the lawsuit, visit WellsFargoLoanEconomicsClassAction.com.