HUD opens a Fair Housing investigation of Wells Fargo's Black homeownership programs

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development opened a Secretary-initiated investigation on Oct. 7, 2026, into Wells Fargo's mortgage lending policies and programs aimed at boosting Black homeownership, saying the initiatives may violate the Fair Housing Act. The probe is an investigation, not a finding or charge.

In a letter dated Oct. 7, Craig W. Trainor, HUD's assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, told Wells Fargo Chairman and Chief Executive Charles W. Scharf that the department is investigating the bank's "mortgage lending policies, practices, and programs" under the Fair Housing Act. The Office of Special Investigations will examine whether Wells Fargo has violated or intends to violate 42 U.S.C. § 3605, which bars discrimination because of race or national origin in residential real estate-related transactions. HUD published the redacted letter with a same-day news release.

The letter cites Wells Fargo's own public commitments. In February 2017 the bank announced a $60 billion lending commitment intended to help create at least 250,000 African American homeowners by 2027. In April 2022 it expanded those efforts, saying it would develop a Special Purpose Credit Program to help minority homeowners whose mortgages Wells Fargo serviced refinance those loans, identify eligible Black homeowners who could benefit from a refinance product, and commit $150 million to lower mortgage rates and reduce refinancing costs. Trainor's letter argues those programs sorted homeowners and offered different products or terms based on race, and that scrubbing DEI language from the bank's website in 2025 does not settle whether lending practices still turn on an applicant's race.

What HUD says comes next

HUD's Oct. 7 release quotes Secretary Scott Turner saying that even if Wells Fargo did not violate the law, "its practice of dividing Americans based on race is immoral, unethical and un-American." Assistant Secretary Trainor said the Fair Housing Act "does not say: discriminate, so long as the discrimination is called a 'special purpose credit program' and justified as advancing 'racial equity in homeownership.'"

The letter is explicit that this is the start of a process, not the end. After the investigation, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity may file an administrative complaint or refer the matter to the Justice Department if it finds reasonable cause. HUD also ordered Wells Fargo to preserve mortgage-related records, including electronic messages on personal devices, and said it would issue initial information requests within ten business days of the letter's date. HUD's release and contemporaneous reporting said Wells Fargo did not have an immediate comment.

Wells Fargo shares, ticker WFC, were last at $82.03, up $1.77, or 2.21%, on cnbc.com's structured quote for the Oct. 8, 2026, session. U.S. cash equities were closed overnight into Friday morning when this story was prepared.