The U.S. Department of Justice, the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission struck a $175 million fair lending settlement with Wells Fargo over allegations that minority customers in its wholesale broker channel were steered to higher-cost loans. According to the federal government’s complaint, Wells placed approximately 2,350 African-American and 1,650 Hispanic wholesale borrowers, along with a number of retail borrowers, into subprime mortgages while putting similarly qualified white borrowers into prime loans. As a result, the minority borrowers paid tens of thousands of dollars more for their mortgages, and were subject to possible prepayment penalties and increased risk of credit problems, default and foreclosure. Wells denied all the accusations leveled against it, and suggested that the problem was due to...