Wells Fargo removes racial references from website

Michael Liedtke

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Wells Fargo & Co. has overhauled an online home referral program that described poor neighborhoods as places heavily populated by blacks who tend to buy "takeout food from chicken restaurants."

The San Francisco-based bank, the second largest in Nevada and one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, took the action Thursday, a day after a nonprofit activist group filed a federal lawsuit alleging the racial descriptions violated the Fair Housing Act.

The bank's website also defined "middle class urban" neighborhoods as mostly black communities where residents favored wine coolers and classified "West Coast immigrant" neighborhoods as heavily Hispanic communities with unusually high unemployment and poverty rates.

In a statement Thursday, Wells said management decided to remove the descriptions "until we can determine if the editorial content is compatible with our demonstrated commitment to low- and moderate-income and minority home buyers."

Wells said the search service is linked to an independently owned and operated site, Homefair.com, that is licensed to more than 2,000 other websites.

"We have no control over the data or content of this search tool, but ... we believe it's our responsibility to take this action to address the concerns expressed," the bank said.

Wells had defended the Community Calculator as a helpful tool.

Joseph Morford, a bank analyst for Dain Rauscher Wessels in San Francisco, wasn't surprised by the overhaul.

"I was shocked when I heard it was there," he said. "It's not something you would expect to see from a bank in San Francisco, especially in this day and age of political correctness."

Wells provided its Community Calculator with support from Homefair.com and CACI Marketing Systems.

Michael Daniel, a Dallas attorney, applauded the removal of the racial descriptions. His civil complaint sought a court order to force Wells to withdraw the information.

"You're always glad when those kinds of gratuitous insults leave public discourse," Daniel said. "That stuff legitimizes racial stereotypes."