Cities Sue Subprime Lenders For Racial Profiling, Public Nuisance
The City of Baltimore is suing Wells Fargo, the second-largest US mortgage lender, for making loans in Black neighborhoods that it knew borrowers could not afford. Meanwhile, the City of Cleveland is suing Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and 18 other banks and mortgage companies for creating a "public nuisance" by funding and securitizing subprime mortgage loans for borrowers with weak credit. Foreclosures in Cleveland increased from 111 in 2002 to 7,583 in 2007.