Thirteen People were Arrested in Protests Against Foreclosures in Front of Wells Fargo

Back in late February 2013, there was a group of about thirteen people arrested for protesting around a Wells Fargo establishment in Minneapolis. The total number of protestors reached up to 200 and they were part of local community groups like Occupy Homes MN and Organizing for Change.

Due to a high number of foreclosures, there were many vacant homes and the protesters wanted these empty homes to be given back to their communities and better service given to people seeking mortgages.

Wells Fargo is the country’s largest provider of mortgages and they have been coming under fire recently for unfair banking practices. They also own many vacant homes in Minneapolis, which promotes crime and declining home values. Many criminals stay in these vacant homes because there are not in use and drug dealers also make drugs or grow marijuana on the premises.

The federal government has recently been examining Wells Fargo and their lending practices. Recently, there have been complaints from minorities applying for home loans and mortgages about receiving unfair treatment. The properties in owns in neighborhoods predominately consisting of minorities have also had complaints lodged against them, possibly due to the amount of crime they attract.

Minority borrowers have been complaining about Wells Fargo not being able to receive favorable terms on their mortgages and being cheated by Wells Fargo. Unfortunately, many borrowers in this city, particularly in this city, are underwater on their mortgages.

Besides minority borrowers, there also have been complaints lodged against them by the National Fair Housing Alliance. They claim that the lending institution has been more people know about cheaper, foreclosed properties in white neighborhoods instead of in poorer, minority neighborhoods.

Wells Fargo obviously does this because they know white homeowners will give them better profits and they will gain more from this than selling the properties to poor minorities.

What does this mean for Wells Fargo and what will they do about this situation? It has been predicted that they probably won’t step forward and take control over what they have done to these neighborhoods. It’s probably safe to assume that the mayor, along with the local government, will need to step in and take the reins of control in their hands.