STOP WELLS FARGO

Updated about a week ago

Coalition of social justice organizations kicks off campaign demanding Wells Fargo stops harming our
communities.
WELLS FARGO KEY FACTS
Federal taxpayer bailout funds received: $36.9 billion
Profits for the years 1996-2010:$101.8 billion
Profits since bailout (Jan 2009-April 2013):$74.3 billion
Bank account fees in 2010:$4.9 billion
Credit card fee income for 2010:$3.7 billion
Wells Fargo bank teller wage: $10.63/hour ($22,100/year)
2012 CEO John Stumpf total compensation:$22.9 million
Bonuses and compensation for top 5 execs last 12 years:$456.4 million
Offshore subsidiaries in tax havens in 2008:77
Lobbying since bailout (Jan 2008-Dec 2012):$29.9 million
Political contributions in 2008, 2010 & 2012 federal elections:$10.6 million

Wells Fargo and The Foreclosure Crisis

Wells Fargo is the largest servicer of mortgages in the U.S., with $1.9 trillion in mortgage servicing and
as of December 2011, the bank had 17.7 percent share of the total market .
Wells Fargo had $14.4 billion worth of foreclosed homes on its books as of June 2010.
In the last year before the subprime bubble burst, Wells Fargo originated or co-issued $74.2 billion worth
of subprime loans, contributing to the current foreclosure crisis.
If Wells Fargo re-wrote these mortgages to fair market value, it could create nearly 186,000 jobs.
When the robo-signing scandal broke, Wells Fargo was the only bank that refused to put a moratorium
on foreclosures. In December 2010, Wells Fargo agreed to a $50 million settlement to compensate
borrowers who had lost their homes as a result of inadequate subprime loan information.
In February 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class action lawsuit charging that the
bank along with its acquisitions had billed 60,000 military members with mortgage refinancing legal fees
that should have been covered by the bank.
Wells Fargo Engages in Discriminatory and Predatory Lending
From 2007 to 2009, Wells Fargo (and mortgage lenders it has since acquired) was 188% more likely to
put African-American and 117% more likely to put Latino borrowers into higher-cost, subprime loans.
While mortgage lending to white borrowers increased 34%, it dropped 44% for African-American
borrowers and 38% for Latinos.
In 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $125 million in damages to settle a suit with the US Department of

Justice alleging Wells Fargo preyed upon African Americans and other minorities by steering them
towards high cost subprime loans. Wells Fargo is required to provide $50 million in down payment
assistance to communities hardest hit by the companys discriminatory practices.
Wells Fargo is a major funder of the payday loan industry that preys on cash-strapped working families.
It provides credit to six of the seven largest publicly traded payday lenders in the country which finance
nearly a third of the payday lending industry.
Wells Fargo also functions as a payday lender itself offering direct deposit cash advances with
annualized interest rates of 120%.
Wells Fargo Profits from the Funding Crisis In Higher Education
WFB holds $10 billion in private student loans; the average American student graduates $25K in debt.
Interest rates on Wells Fargo student loans are near 18%. Federal student loans range from 3% - 8%.
As a result of intense bank industry lobbying and pressure, student loans cant be discharged in
bankruptcy, and Wells Fargo is not offering to reduce the principal or interest rates.
Outstanding student loans now total more than $1 Trillion, which means that Wells Fargo is financing the
education bubble.
Wells Fargo Is Undermining Small Business
Even though the bailout was intended to get banks to start lending again to stimulate the economy and
spur job creation, Wells Fargos bailout did not translate into new credit for small businesses. Between
2009 and 2011, Wells Fargo made only 4,781 through the SBAs 7(a) program which represents a 44%
decline compared to the two years prior to the crisis. As a result of the drop in funding, the number of jobs
funded by the program dropped from nearly 89,000 to little more than 52,000, representing a 37%
decline.
Wells Fargo is Profiting from the Immigration Crisis
Wells Fargo is one of the largest shareholders in GEO Group (GEO), holding nearly 3.7 million shares.
GEO is the second largest private prison company in the US and second largest incarcerator of
immigrants. Wells also shares some lobbyists with GEO (noted above) who lobby on immigration policy
and on funding of contracts to private prisons to incarcerate immigrants.
Wells Fargo Cheating on Taxes
Between 2008 and 2011, Wells Fargo paid an average effective tax rate of 3.8%, despite the fact that
they earned over $50 million in profit during that period.
Between 2008 and 2011, Wells Fargo avoided paying over $18 billion dollars in taxes in part by using
over 50 offshore tax havens.
Between 2008 and 2010, Wells Fargo received nearly $18 billion dollars in federal tax subsidies.