Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, Former Mayor Willie Brown Support Class Action Suit Against Wells Fargo

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown held a press conference Wednesday to announce their support of a class-action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank.

According to the class-action suit, Wells Fargo denied loans to minority applicants at an “unprecedented rate” during the COVID-19 pandemic, when interest rates dropped to historic lows.

“More specifically, non-white applicants for home loans from the defendants in this case—Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Wells Fargo & Co., and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage—had their applications intentionally and disproportionately denied, faced unjustified delays in processing their applications, and/or were given less favorable terms than similarly qualified white Americans. This was the result of Wells Fargo systematically engaging in a new form of redlining that harmed Plaintiffs and the Class based on their race and ethnicity,” the complaint states.

Brown and Crump held the press conference at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco. Crump added that housing discrimination against Black Americans had kept generations of Black men and women from building wealth.

“Homeownership is the heart of the American dream and Wells Fargo has pushed that dream out of reach for thousands of Black and Brown Americans with their blatant discriminatory loan practices,” Crump said during the conference. “Just as we have cried out against policing practices that have killed Black people and Brown people, so do we denounce Wells Fargo’s racially motivated banking practices that kill Black and Brown opportunities.”

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the homeowner rate for white Americans was 72.7% in 2021. However, for Black Americans, the homeowner rate is 44% and has increased just 0.4% over the last decade.

The press conference, which included testimonials from Black Wells Fargo customers who attempted to refinance their loans, came a day after Wells Fargo agreed to a $1 billion settlement of a 2016 class-action lawsuit filed by its shareholders alleging the bank made misleading statements concerning its compliance with federal regulators.

In recent years, the bank has donated to several Black causes and organizations, including 100 Black Men of America Inc., the NAACP, and Black entrepreneurs. However, the bank also had some controversies concerning Black Americans.

The New York Times reported the bank discontinued a hiring policy requiring recruiters to interview a diverse pool of candidates after the bank held fake job interviews. Forbes also reported last year that Wells Fargo denied 53% of mortgage applications filed by Black applicants. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also announced the city government would no longer work with the bank due to its discriminatory practices.

In a statement emailed to Black Enterprise, Wells Fargo responded to the lawsuit:

“We are confident that we follow relevant government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) guidelines in our decision-making and that our underwriting practices are consistently applied regardless of a customer’s race or ethnicity. These allegations against Wells Fargo stand in stark contrast to the company’s significant and long-term commitment to closing the minority homeownership gap.”