Families rally to stop evictions by Wells Fargo eight months after Attorney General’s settlement

CHICAGO, IL – After unsuccessful attempts to get Wells Fargo to accept his offer to repurchase his home, Aaron Vaughn will lead a rally outside the Northside offices of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage company. A single father from Chicago, Mr. Vaughn has repeatedly sought to negotiate an agreement that would keep his family in their home, but has been unable to get a response to his numerous letters and phone calls. These failed efforts also include attempts to get assistance from the $125 million settlement agreement between Wells Fargo and the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Reached in July 2012, the settlement is supposed to provide restitution.

A Rally and Press Conference will be held today, April 22, at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 511 W. North Ave, Chicago, at 11 a.m.

Vaughn, a resident of Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood, lost his job in 2010 and found himself in an “underwater” mortgage, where he owed more on his home than it was actually worth. Over the past three years, he has tried to avail himself of various options that would prevent his family from getting evicted, from a loan modification to a short sale, but none have been successful. Following the sale of his home, Vaughn is currently employed and has made numerous offers to repurchase the home, but has received no response from the bank.

“I probably would not have lost my home to foreclosure if I had not been pressured into a mortgage with an inflated property value and a predatory interest rate,” explained Vaughn. “Now my family finds itself facing the possibility of being put out of our home, in spite of what we have tried to do to avoid an eviction.” 

Eight months ago, the IL Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice settled a suit brought against Wells Fargo over allegations that the company systematically steered borrowers of color like Mr. Vaughn into subprime mortgages more frequently than their white counterparts and charged borrowers of color more money for their mortgages than their white counterparts. Although millions of dollars from this settlement were supposed to go towards providing restitution and assistance to families like the Vaughns, they have seen little help. Instead, it seems like Wells Fargo has continued to treat these families as it has in the past.

Other local families facing eviction by Wells Fargo will join the Vaughn family at this picket and press conference include a disabled homeowner from the Chatham area, an elderly family facing eviction from the home their landlord lost to foreclosure, and a  widow from the Joliet area.