Of the 34,000 minorities that Justice said were subjected to discrimination, 4,000 were improperly steered into subprime loans. It estimates they will receive an average of $15,000 each under the settlement.
The problem, Justice found, was that brokers could earn more money making subprime loans than by originating prime mortgages. The company capped compensation at 4.5 percent of a prime loan, while the cap for subprime mortgages was 5 percent. That translated into a $1,500 difference for an average loan of $300,000 and created an incentive for brokers to originate as many subprime loans as possible.
Wells Fargo tried to address the issue by creating a filter intended to identify prime customers. But according to Justice, brokers easily bypassed the process by encouraging borrowers to skip the down payment or withhold certain documents — steps disqualifying them for a prime loan. Often borrowers were not told that they were eligible for a better interest rate.
Federal investigators said senior Wells Fargo officials knew about those practices but did little to stop them.
In addition, even when black and Hispanic customers got prime loans, they paid higher fees than white borrowers, Justice alleged. The average African American taking out a $300,000 prime loan was charged $2,064 more in broker fees than a similarly qualified white customer. Latino borrowers paid an average of $1,251 more.
“The department’s action makes clear that we will hold financial institutions accountable, including some of the nation’s largest, for lending discrimination,” Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said.
Wells Fargo said Thursday that it will no longer work with independent mortgage brokers, which originate about 5 percent of its loan volume.
As part of the settlement, it is also reviewing subprime mortgages made by in-house loan officers to determine whether any black or Latino borrowers may have qualified for prime mortgages instead. The compensation for those customers would be added to the $175 million settlement.