ACORN Protests Alleged Wells Predatory Lending Practices

More than 125 members of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now will demonstrate outside Wells Fargo's annual meeting on Tuesday, April 27, at the bank's San Francisco headquarters to protest what ACORN calls "abusive mortgage loans."A small group of ACORN members will also attend the meeting to speak in support of a shareholder resolution presented by the Coalition for Responsible Growth. The shareholder resolution calls on Wells to review the relationship between executive compensation and performance in preventing predatory lending practices. Representatives for ACORN say that lawsuits related to predatory lending have cost other large lenders hundreds of millions of dollars. "We're at a loss to understand exactly what it is they want," said Janice Smith, corporate communciations spokesperson for Wells Fargo. "Our mortgage business meets or exceeds what ACORN has demanded from other lenders."