Wells Fargo is facing fresh scrutiny in Charlotte after a national financial watchdog concluded the bank turned down Black, Latino and Asian mortgage applicants in the city and across North Carolina at far higher rates than white borrowers between 2020 and 2024. The numbers are stark enough that community groups and consumer advocates are now pushing for regulators to dig into the bank’s underwriting and outreach practices.
What the report found
According to The Charlotte Observer, which reviewed a study from the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Wells Fargo denied 20.5% of Black mortgage applicants in Charlotte from 2020 to 2024, along with 23.5% of Latino applicants and 16.2% of Asian applicants. By comparison, only 7.9% of white applicants were denied in the city over the same period.
The pattern held statewide. The study found denial rates of 22.5% for Black applicants, 25.6% for Latino applicants and 20.3% for Asian applicants across North Carolina, versus 10.1% for white applicants. The report also documents a sharp drop in the bank’s overall mortgage activity over those five years. A Wells Fargo spokesperson told the Observer the bank needed time to review the findings before offering a detailed response.
Why advocates say it’s urgent
The Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund is urging regulators and local officials to examine whether Wells Fargo is following fair-lending and civil-rights laws. The group is calling for deep reviews of the bank’s use of AI and algorithmic underwriting to ferret out any hidden racial bias, stronger outreach to Black, Latino and Asian communities, and better internal channels so employees can safely report suspected discrimination.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund also warned this week that recent federal rule changes will narrow how “disparate impact” cases are enforced, a shift advocates argue could make it tougher to challenge systemic discrimination even when clear racial gaps show up in the data.
Local imbalance
The report highlights how Wells Fargo’s mortgage business in the state is clustered in upper-income, majority-white neighborhoods. At the same time, Black and Latino adults together made up roughly 30% of North Carolina’s adult population during the study period but accounted for only 15% of the bank’s mortgage applicants in the state…