Progress Illinois

Earlier this month, Baltimore officials filed a federal lawsuit against the embattled Wall Street bank Wells Fargo, alleging the company systematically singled out black residents for high-interest subprime mortgages, leading to a wave of foreclosures that is costing the city millions of dollars. The Chicago Reporter's Alden Loury asks an intriguing question: "If Baltimore sued Wells Fargo, why aren’t we?"

African-Americans in Baltimore received high-cost loans from Wells Fargo nearly 34 percent of the time two years ago.  Black borrowers in Chicagoland, meanwhile, took on similar loans more than 49 percent of the time. About 34 percent of Chicago-area African Americans earning $120,000 or more received high-cost, subprime loans from Wells Fargo in 2007 as well. Only 22 percent of white borrowers earning less than $40,000 were given the same loans. Similar trends existed in Baltimore (25 percent of wealthy blacks were issued subprime loans compared to 15 percent of low-earning whites) but were not as strong.

These disturbing figures led Attorney General Lisa Madigan to launch an investigation into whether Wells Fargo, along with Countrywide Financial, violated fair lending and civil rights laws by steering large numbers of African-Americans and Latinos into subprime mortgages. The AG's office eventually filed suit against the latter and reached a settlement worth $8.4 billion. No such action was taken against Wells.

Picketing outside of Well Fargo's Home Lending office on Chicago's North Avenue yesterday, members of the United Electrical Workers -- as well as community and religious groups -- lambasted the bank for its behavior. Decorating the sidewalk with fake murder chalk and caution tape, organizers accused Wells of committing "jobicide" in communities throughout the region. The protest, which appeared to perplex the crew of mortgage bankers standing inside the office, was part of a 22-city National Day of Action in which UE members and their allies called on the bank to stop acting as a "roadblock to economic recovery."

As we've reported, Wells is putting up just such a "roadblock" in Moline, where, 100 employees of Quad City Die Casting may be out of a job come July 12 after the bank cut off the company's financing. Yesterday, a group of clergy members -- led by Chicago's own C.J. Hawking --  attempted to present letters of concern to Wells Fargo's Eastern Region president explaining the effect on the community of liquidating the company. Folks who attended the action in Moline say the banks refused to speak with the religious leaders, instead choosing to call the police and bar them from the building. The bank has still refused to explain why it has decided to terminate the company's credit line before a new investor can be identified.