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Wells Fargo Racial Discrimination Class Action Lawsuits Overview:
- Who: Ifeoma Ebo and Aaron Braxton filed separate class action lawsuits against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
- Why: Ebo and Braxton separately claim Wells Fargo discriminates against Black Americans who are applying for home mortgage loans and refinancing with the bank.
- Where: The class action lawsuits were filed in California and New York federal court.
Wells Fargo Bank places Black Americans applying for home mortgage loans and refinancing at a competitive disadvantage, a pair of new class action lawsuits separately allege.
Plaintiff Ifeoma Ebo cited a recent Bloomberg report that he says revealed Wells Fargo was the only bank in the country to reject more Black American applicants than it accepted in 2020.
Further, Ebo claims the report showed Wells Fargo approved fewer than half of all homeowners’ refinancing applications filed by Black Americans that year.
Ebo also argues that even when Wells Fargo does approve a Black American’s applicant, that the bank proceeds to offer them interest rates that are “significantly less favorable” than what is offered to white Americans.
“Wells Fargo’s discriminatory practices are also pervasive with respect to applicants for new mortgage loans,” Ebo’s class action lawsuit states.
Beyond accepting Black American applicants at a lower rate, Ebo argues Wells Fargo makes the process itself more difficult by requiring them to submit documentation beyond what is necessary or more than once.
Ebo wants to represent a nationwide class of Black Americans who submitted an application with Wells Fargo to obtain or refinance a mortgage loan meant for a residential retail property and whose applications were never completed or denied despite being qualified to be approved.
He is demanding a jury trial and requesting actual, statutory and punitive damages for himself and all class members.
Wells Fargo’s Discrimination Forces Black Homeowners To Pay More Than Other Homeowners, Plaintiff Says
The second plaintiff, Aaron Braxton, a Black playwright, meanwhile, says Wells Fargo’s decision to reject Black applicants at a higher rate forces Black homeowners to end up having to pay more than other homeowners, which often ends up in foreclosure
According to Braxton, a recent study shows Wells Fargo only accepts 47% of Black applicants who are attempting to refinance, which is lower than the national approval average of 71% for Black Americans.
Braxton claims Wells Fargo put roadblocks in his way when he applied to refinance his home with the bank, including subjecting him to unusually long processing times and enrolling him in a deferred payment program he called a “debt trap” and which he says he never consented to joining.
Wells Fargo eventually granted Braxton an above-market interest rate almost a year and a half after he first applied to refinance, he says.
Ebo and Braxton collectively claim Wells Fargo is in violation of, among other things, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Final approval was given in December for a $28 million class action settlement agreement made by Wells Fargo to resolve claims telemarketing merchants hired by the bank recorded consumers during sales calls without their consent.
Have you been discriminated against when applying for a home loan with Wells Fargo? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are collectively represented by Javier L. Merino, Marc E. Dann and Brian D. Flick of DannLaw; Thomas A. Zimmerman Jr. of Zimmerman Law Offices, P.C.; and Ellis George Cipollone O’Brien Annaguey LLP.
The Class Action Lawsuits are Ebo v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Case No. 1:22-cv-01922, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and Braxton v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Case No. 4:22-cv-01748, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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16 thoughts onWells Fargo Class Actions Allege Racial Discrimination
Yes, attend NACA event sat there over 8 hours for them to say I wasnt 61 days past due, would not give me anything in writing and faxed refinance documents at wells fargo banks which they never received over 10 times or there was one page missing every time and retirement 401k with them they could not find which could have save me from filing ch 7, and false inspections on the home several classic action notice returned yet no check
My bad experience with Wells Fargo in Refinacing my home. I met all necessary requirements that Wells Fargo ask of me and sometimes double documentation when they ask for it. Process took several months and expired after a week or so. Now i was declined the refi followed by a letter. Decided to go to another Lender, process for refi was done in 3 weeks with my first payment 45 days
Please add me Wellas Fargo
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After reading this, it explains a lot of what we went through. My husband and I were pre-approved and we got so excited. We decided to have our home built. Wells Fargo kept asking for so much information. We had to write letters to explain everything. Even things 10yrs old. We would speak with them and were told that everything is great. Approval looks good. Then finally, after 3 months of submitting this and that, they denied us. Meanwhile, our house was being built. Wells Fargo definitely put serious stress on us and we weren’t sure if we wanted to buy a home anymore. We ended up using the owner developers company and got approved in 3 weeks. Keys to our newly built home the following month.
After Wells Fargo submitted the wrong account number to my bank in an attempt to get that month’s mortgage payment, they kept claiming that it was my fault because they could confirm that the number that they used was the right account number. They ended up adding over 37k to my balance for a mistake that they made after keeping my case in foreclosure status for over 3 years while refusing to give me copies of the payment receipts to prove their repeated claims.
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Same here! Wells Fargo took over 6 months to process my refi. Constantly needed repeated documents because too much time past during they’re slow loan process. Finally in the end they declined my initial request for 10yr refi and only offered me a 15yr which meant more money for them in interest.
Wells Fargo has discriminated against me when I tried to refinance due to my race. I was strung along a lengthy process for a rate that was significantly high. In addition, Wells Fargo placed me on a forbearance during the pandemic without my authorization which hurt me refinancing with another lender.
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