Wells Fargo & Co., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, will pay $125 million and set up a $50 million assistance fund to settle U.S. allegations that it discriminated against minority borrowers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The bank will also stop using outside brokers to create mortgages, according to a statement yesterday from Wells Fargo. The accord settles U.S. accusations in court filings that the bank put creditworthy Hispanic and African-American borrowers into more expensive subprime loans from 2004 to 2007, and that mortgage brokers through 2009 added charges that caused minority borrowers to pay higher fees, costs and interest than similar white borrowers.
