The Economy

Even there, though, they weren't denying black people or turning away their business. They were giving them mortgages (that was during the build up for the housing bubble), but milking them for all the fees / higher-cost products they could get them to accept. Which is more consistent with the cross-selling scandal.

In the case of refinancings, I suppose you can say that they were forcing them to stay in originated mortgages that had higher interest rates. But I know how they operate and manage their businesses and they are focused on the closing costs, not making guesses about where interest rates may or may not go in the future (which they have no control over). And more importantly, the low-level workers originating those loans wouldn't be thinking about the interest rate. They just care about getting themselves paid for originating a new loan.

 

I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt. But I am saying that if you (not you. ... I mean anyone who wants to accuse them) want to say that they are using an algorithm that takes race into account (which would obviously be discriminatory). ... you really need really to be able to prove that is EXACTLY what is happening.

 

As an aside. ... I am in Philadelphia a lot (unfortunately), and I once realized that the Wells Fargo building (on Broad Street) is the location they used in the movie Trading Places, for Duke and Duke (the company of Randolph and Mortimer). Given the premise of the movie, it's kind of ridiculous to think about it being the Wells Fargo building within the context of this conversation.