Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks

Hat tip:Plantsmantx
From The NYTimes:

Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks
By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: June 6, 2009

As she describes it, Beth Jacobson and her fellow loan officers at Wells Fargo Bank “rode the stagecoach from hell” for a decade, systematically singling out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages.

These loans, Baltimore officials have claimed in a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo, tipped hundreds of homeowners into foreclosure and cost the city tens of millions of dollars in taxes and city services.

Wells Fargo, Ms. Jacobson said in an interview, saw the black community as fertile ground for subprime mortgages, as working-class blacks were hungry to be a part of the nation’s home-owning mania. Loan officers, she said, pushed customers who could have qualified for prime loans into subprime mortgages. Another loan officer stated in an affidavit filed last week that employees had referred to blacks as “mud people” and to subprime lending as “ghetto loans.”

See, that is why some of these banks should be pushed out of business. Folks that could have qualified for prime loans, but pushed towards subprime mortgages.

And, as Plantsmantx commented:

It also puts the lie to the claim that "the only color that matters is green". If it was all about greed and nothing else, they could just as easily have pushed these loans on whites as enthusiastically as they pushed them on blacks, and made even more money. But, they didn't.

So true.

“We just went right after them,” said Ms. Jacobson, who is white and said she was once the bank’s top-producing subprime loan officer nationally. “Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches, because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans.”

Ms. Jacobson’s account and that of the other loan officer who gave an affidavit, Tony Paschal, both of whom have left Wells Fargo, provide the first detailed accusations of deliberate racial steering into subprimes by one of the nation’s top banks.

The toll taken by such policies, Baltimore officials argue, is terrible. Data released by the city as part of the suit last week show that more than half the properties subject to foreclosure on a Wells Fargo loan from 2005 to 2008 now stand vacant. And 71 percent of those are in predominantly black neighborhoods.

.......................................................................

The N.A.A.C.P. has filed a class-action lawsuit charging systematic racial discrimination by more than a dozen banks, including Wells Fargo.

At the heart of such charges is reverse redlining, specifically marketing the most expensive and onerous loan products to black customers.

The New York Times, in a recent analysis of mortgage lending in New York City, found that black households making more than $68,000 a year were nearly five times as likely to hold high-interest subprime mortgages as whites of similar or even lower incomes. (The disparity was greater for Wells Fargo borrowers, as 2 percent of whites in that income group hold subprime loans and 16.1 percent of blacks.)

Rest of article at links above.

Haul their asses into court. Period.

U.S. Sens. Grassley, Hagan: Work to ensure black farmers receive funds for Pigford settlement claims

Hat tip:GreenLadyHere


Folks know that I've had some 'issues' with The President's decision last week to disrespect and dishonor the Black Farmers, by trying to go cheap on their settlement. What they were asking for, and were told ' it wasn't within the budget' is the equivalent of what we give the 51 State - EVERY DAMN YEAR WITHOUT ANY QUESTIONS.

But, I digress.

From BlackPoliticsOnTheWeb.com:

U.S. Sens. Grassley, Hagan: Work to ensure black farmers receive funds for Pigford settlement claims
May 5, 2009

Senators Chuck Grassley and Kay Hagan today introduced legislation to ensure that African American farmers, who successfully filed claims as a result of the 2008 farm bill, will receive the money they are entitled to.

“The Department of Justice decided to cap the $100 million in the farm bill, so anybody who was successful in their petition after the money was gone was out of luck. It was clear from the start that $100 million wasn’t going to be enough money. So, we’re making reasonable fixes to ensure that those who have been successful in their cases are awarded what they rightly are entitled to,” Grassley said. “We’ve been working too hard on this for too many years to let bureaucratic procedure and mumbo-jumbo discriminate against African American farmers and ranchers again.”

“Years ago, thousands of African American farmers were found to have been unfairly discriminated against when applying for loans, credit, and other forms of financial help to ensure their farm’s success,” said Hagan. “The 2008 Farm Bill passed without adequately addressing the costs required to settle the claims in the Pigford case, and ultimately, help right the injustices these farmers faced so many years ago. This legislation seeks to correct that problem, and ensures the farmers who were discriminated against receive what is fairly due to them.”

The Department of Agriculture settled a landmark class action lawsuit with African American farmers in 1999. The Department and the county commissioners discriminated against African American farmers when they denied, delayed, or otherwise frustrated the applications of those farmers and those attempting to farm for farm loans and other credit and benefit programs. This settlement permitted over 22,000 black farmers to have their claims evaluated on the merits, and almost 15,000 had their claims vindicated.

For a variety of reasons, nearly 75,000 additional black farmers filed their claims of discrimination through the Pigford consent decree process past the deadline for their claims to be evaluated on the merits. As a result, thousands of victims of discrimination continue to be denied an opportunity even to have their claims heard.

The case of the Black Farmers is about JUSTICE. Plain and simple. The Department of Agriculture is notorious in its racist practices against Black Farmers, and it's time a wrong be righted. I would have hoped that The President, who exploited this issue during the campaign, would take the lead on it, but since he won't, I'm fine with anyone else who wants to step up to the plate and DO THE RIGHT THING.

Mr. President, Where is the Help for the HOMEOWNER?

You listen to crooks like Geithner and Summers. You bail out the crooks that got us into this financial situation, but where is the help for the Average Homeowner? When people voted for you, they expected more than this from you.

From the NYTimes Editorial Page:

Editorial
As Foreclosures Surge ...
Published: May 3, 2009

The Obama administration sat by last week as 12 Senate Democrats joined 39 Senate Republicans to block a vote on an amendment that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages.

Senator Obama campaigned on the provision. And President Obama made its passage part of his antiforeclosure plan. It would have been a very useful prod to get lenders to rework bad loans rather than leaving the modification to a judge.

But when the time came to stand up to the banking lobbies and cajole yes votes from reluctant senators — the White House didn’t. When the measure failed, there wasn’t even a statement of regret.

Not even a statement of regret.

YOU COULD HAVE placed this in the reconciliation Bill.

YOU.DID.NOT.

You chose to stiff those in most need, Mr. President. Just like you're trying to stiff those Black Farmers -don't think that has gone away from our consciousness - your BETRAYAL of them.

Mr. President, you allowed those thieves -Geitner and Summers- to swindle the average American Taxpayer into bailing out folks that won't even admit that it's their fault and their mismanagement that got THE WORLD into this financial crisis.

The Average American isn't a simpleton. They understand the interconnectedness of the financial situations. All they have asked for is that, as you look out for Wall Street, you all look out for Main Street.

You are FAILING IN LOOKING OUT FOR MAIN STREET.

And Main Street's patience will only last for so long, before they return the FU.

I'll say it again: Fredo and Summers aren't serving you. They serve Wall Street, and you better wake up to that point before it's too late.

Mr. President, Where is the Help for the HOMEOWNER?

You listen to crooks like Geithner and Summers. You bail out the crooks that got us into this financial situation, but where is the help for the Average Homeowner? When people voted for you, they expected more than this from you.

From the NYTimes Editorial Page:

Editorial
As Foreclosures Surge ...
Published: May 3, 2009

The Obama administration sat by last week as 12 Senate Democrats joined 39 Senate Republicans to block a vote on an amendment that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages.

Senator Obama campaigned on the provision. And President Obama made its passage part of his antiforeclosure plan. It would have been a very useful prod to get lenders to rework bad loans rather than leaving the modification to a judge.

But when the time came to stand up to the banking lobbies and cajole yes votes from reluctant senators — the White House didn’t. When the measure failed, there wasn’t even a statement of regret.

Not even a statement of regret.

YOU COULD HAVE placed this in the reconciliation Bill.

YOU.DID.NOT.

You chose to stiff those in most need, Mr. President. Just like you're trying to stiff those Black Farmers -don't think that has gone away from our consciousness - your BETRAYAL of them.

Mr. President, you allowed those thieves -Geitner and Summers- to swindle the average American Taxpayer into bailing out folks that won't even admit that it's their fault and their mismanagement that got THE WORLD into this financial crisis.

The Average American isn't a simpleton. They understand the interconnectedness of the financial situations. All they have asked for is that, as you look out for Wall Street, you all look out for Main Street.

You are FAILING IN LOOKING OUT FOR MAIN STREET.

And Main Street's patience will only last for so long, before they return the FU.

I'll say it again: Fredo and Summers aren't serving you. They serve Wall Street, and you better wake up to that point before it's too late.