News and Announcements

Wells Fargo discriminated against Dreamer by denying auto loan, lawsuit claims

Jul 25, 2019 / News Item

Eduardo Peña and his wife moved out of Chicago last year to start a family together. * * * A Wells Fargo representative told Peña by phone that the loan application had been rejected because his status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was set to expire during the loan period, according to a lawsuit Peña filed against the bank this week. Under DACA, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children are permitted to legally work for a period of two years, subject to renewal. This group, known as Dreamers, receives Social Security numbers...

Wells Fargo sued for denying loan to Dreamer

Jul 18, 2019 / News Item

Wells Fargo’s legal woes have expanded to claims the bank wrongly denied an auto loan for a migrant working in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to a lawsuit filed in a California federal court Tuesday. Eduardo Peña, who was born in Mexico and is a resident of Illinois, alleges that Wells Fargo discriminated against him over his immigration status when he applied for a car loan online in November 2018. Peña, who has a Social Security number and a work permit, claims the bank never provided an accurate written explanation for denying the loan, which...

Demandan al banco Wells Fargo por negarse a prestarle a un inmigrante

Jul 17, 2019 / News Item

Eduardo Peña, un mexicano indocumentado de Illinois protegido de la deportación por el Programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA, en inglés), tiene trabajo estable y un buen historial de crédito: es el tipo de cliente codiciado por los bancos. Pero ahora Peña ha entablado una demanda colectiva de discriminación contra la institución financiera Wells Fargo, alegando que el banco le negó un préstamo para la compra de un automóvil por su estatus migratorio. La demanda fue entablada este martes en un tribunal federal del distrito norte de California, y la firma legal que...

Wells Fargo Denies Auto Loans To DACA Residents, Suit Says

Jul 16, 2019 / News Item

An Illinois man hit Wells Fargo Bank NA with a proposed discrimination class action in California federal court Tuesday, claiming the bank denies auto loan applications from U.S. residents who hold Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status simply based on their immigration status. Eduardo Peña said the bank committed alienage discrimination against him and a large number of the 800,000 DACA-status individuals who are financially stable by categorically rejecting their car loan applications because they are not U.S. citizens, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Further, he claims...

Wells Fargo sued for discrimination by DACA migrant who was denied auto loan

Jul 16, 2019 / News Item

Wells Fargo was hit with another claim of discrimination Tuesday when an immigrant who was denied an auto loan accused the troubled San Francisco bank of withholding credit from migrants who live and work legally in the United States under the DACA program. In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court, lawyers for the would-be borrower said Wells Fargo is illegally denying auto loans to non-U.S. citizens who would otherwise qualify for them and also failed to provide him with an accurate written explanation for the denial, as the law requires. The suit seeks class-action status on behalf...

Outten & Golden LLP: Wells Fargo Discriminates Against DACA Participants in Auto Lending

Jul 16, 2019 / Press Release

New charges are latest in bank’s ‘long history of credit discrimination claims against it, ’ lawsuit alleges Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. illegally denies auto loans to loan-eligible non-U.S. citizens regardless of their creditworthiness, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by Outten & Golden LLP. Filed in San Francisco on behalf of Eduardo Peña, a resident of Berwyn, Ill., who has had Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status since 2012, the lawsuit alleges Wells Fargo violated federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on alienage and that require a lender to provide an...

Outten & Golden LLP: Court Rules Wells Fargo Lending Discrimination Lawsuit Can Proceed

Aug 10, 2017 / Press Release

A California federal court ruled that a lawsuit alleging Wells Fargo illegally denied qualified college students and other applicants loans because of their citizenship or immigration status can go forward, Outten & Golden LLP and co-counsel said today. U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney of Northern District of California ruled that the plaintiffs can pursue claims against Wells Fargo under a federal law that prohibits alienage discrimination and under a California law that prohibits discrimination based on immigration status. Wells Fargo had argued that federal law permits the bank to...

Wells Fargo Must Face Immigrant Credit Discrimination Case

Aug 7, 2017 / Media Coverage

A California federal judge on Thursday allowed a proposed class of authorized immigrants allegedly denied the opportunity to apply for credit to bring a lending discrimination case against Wells Fargo & Co., asserting that they had standing to sue under a federal statute she interpreted as broadly prohibiting any kind of discrimination against credit applicants. District Judge Maxine Chesney determined that the putative class — which includes immigrants with work authorization under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — brought valid claims under the...

Immigrants Denied Credit by Wells Fargo May Sue Bank, Judge Says

Aug 7, 2017 / Media Coverage

Young immigrants denied credit by Wells Fargo Bank because they are not permanent U.S. residents can sue the bank under a post-Civil War law barring discrimination on the basis of immigration status, a federal judge ruled. In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in San Francisco rejected Wells Fargo's argument that lenders are permitted under a more recent federal anti-discrimination law to consider immigration status before granting loans. Filed in January, the proposed class action accused Wells Fargo of denying student loans and credit cards to immigrants granted work...

Lawsuit claiming Wells Fargo illegally denied loans to DACA beneficiaries can go forward, court says

Aug 4, 2017 / Media Coverage

A U.S. District Court judge ruled Thursday, Aug. 3, that a lawsuit claiming Wells Fargo illegally denied loans to young immigrants with temporary legal status can go forward. UC Riverside student Mitzie Perez sought a student loan through Wells Fargo’s website and was denied because she acknowledged that she’s not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, according to the suit filed by the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF. Judge Maxine M. Chesney of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled late Thursday that the...

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