Wells Fargo Approved Less Than Half of Mortgage Refinancing Applications from Black Homeowners

By Angela Johnson, The Root

A new data analysis shows the bank approves fewer applications from black homeowners than any major lender.

…Although white applicants are generally approved at higher rates than blacks across the industry, the Wells Fargo figures were especially suspect when compared to other lenders. JPMorgan Chase & Co. accepted 81 percent of refinancing applications from black homeowners in 2020 compared with 90 percent from white ones. Bank of America Corp. approved 66 percent of its black applicants and 78 percent of white ones. Rocket Mortgage LLC, approved 79 percent of black applicants and 86 percent of white ones.

The figures are even more outrageous when you drill down to look at approvals based on income levels. Wells Fargo’s application approval rates for the lowest income white families (earning $63,000 per year) were nearly the same as the approval rates for the highest income black families (earning $168,000 per year). This means that middle and low-income black families had virtually no chance at being approved for refinancing.

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Learn more about the five pillars of Jim Crow and how the idea created a framework for the economic injustices Black Americans experience here.

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