Riding “the stagecoach from hell” A former Wells Fargo loan officer details home lending practices that deliberately steered credit-worth black customers to subprime loans, reports the New York Times. According to Beth Jacobson’s affidavit:
“Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches, because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans.”
Her affidavit is part of a lawsuit filed against several banks by the NAACP.
The New York Times, in a recent analysis of mortgage lending in New York City, found that black households making more than $68,000 a year were nearly five times as likely to hold high-interest subprime mortgages as whites of similar or even lower incomes. (The disparity was greater for Wells Fargo borrowers, as 2 percent of whites in that income group hold subprime loans and 16.1 percent of blacks.)
U.S. allies win Lebanon election BBC reports that the current governing coalition won a narrow parliamentary victory over Hezbollah-aligned parties.
Peru BBC reports that nine police officers kidnapped by indigenous protesters in northern Peru were killed in a governent rescue effort. Another 22 officers were freed, and seven remain missing. The kidnappings followed a massive protest Friday against gas and oil drilling on their ancestral lands. At least 22 indigenous protesters and nine police were killed in the protest at a jungle highway near the town of Bagua.
Mexico Reuters reports that 18 people were killed in a shootout between soldiers and the Beltrán Leyva drug cartel in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco.
 News with attitude, mostly from MN but with occasional forays abroad.News Day summarizes, links to, and comments on reports from news media around the world, with particular attention to Minnesota news. |
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