14864: All Is Not Well With Wells Fargo And Student Loan Debt.

It looks like the kid is peeking at Dad’s student loan debt and thinking, “Holy shit, pops! Based on what you owe, I guess I can look forward to community college—after serving in the military.”

14238: Wells Fargo Re-Bullshitting.

Wells Fargo is re-affirming its commitment to communities—while everyone else is re-affirming Wells Fargo is a culturally clueless criminal.

13055: BHM 2016—Wells Fargo.

How to diversify a workforce: Offer a credit-bearing training course for minority students at a historically Black college—as opposed to, say, hiring qualified minorities right now.

11790: Banking On Omnicom.

Adweek reported Wells Fargo shifted its creative business from Omnicom shop DDB to Omnicom shop BBDO. Contenders also included Omnicom shop TBWA\Chiat\Day. A Wells Fargo official gushed, “BBDO is a great fit for where we want to take the brand next.” Guess Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Fathom Communications weren’t available.

BBDO Wins Big Pitch for Wells Fargo

Bank shifts its creative account after 18+ years with DDB

By Andrew McMains

Wells Fargo has found a new lead creative agency.

After more than 18 years with DDB, the bank has hired BBDO in San Francisco to lead its creative business, Wells Fargo confirmed. Account revenue is estimated at $10-12 million.

“BBDO is a great fit for where we want to take the brand next,” said Michael Lacorazza, svp of integrated marketing at the bank. “We aspire for Wells Fargo to be not just a strong brand in the banking category, but to be a brand that people love and respect around the world beyond our category. And it’s not an easy challenge, especially considering the space that the banking brands play in these days (after the financial crisis).”

Given the bank’s goal of distinguishing itself more broadly, BBDO’s experience with brands like AT&T and Starbucks was as relevant as its past work for former client Bank of America. In particular, Lacorazza was impressed with the shop’s ability to distinguish AT&T in a parity category and to understand Starbucks from a “big, 40,000-foot strategic brand level all the way down to, well, how are we going to drive sales?”

Wells Fargo, which is based in San Francisco, spends about $130 million in media annually, according to Nielsen.

The creative search began in October. Wells Fargo marketing executives—including Lacorazza and chief marketing officer Jamie Moldafsky—subsequently met with a half dozen shops months before narrowing the field to four. The other finalists were TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., Mullen in San Francisco and JWT in New York.

The contenders got two assignments, according to Lacorazza. One assignment revolved around how to evolve the bank’s current “Conversation” campaign and the other sought ideas on where to take the brand if starting from scratch. Beyond strategic thoughts and creative ideas, bank executives wanted to see how the agencies worked, albeit in a compressed period of about 30 days, Lacorazza explained.

Final presentations took place early last month at Wells Fargo.

Media responsibilities were not in play and remain at OMD (traditional) and UM (digital). Other Wells Fargo shops include MRM (digital marketing) and multicultural players Muse, DAE and Acento. Select Resources International in Santa Monica, Calif., managed the search.

10212: Predatory Lending Practitioner…?

From The Huffington Post…

Beth Jacobson, Ex-Wells Fargo Employee, Alleges Bank Employed Predatory Lending Practices

The Huffington Post | By Alexander Eichler

Six years after the onset of the housing bust, big banks are still facing allegations that race influenced their lending practices.

Beth Jacobson, a former Wells Fargo loan officer, alleges that the company steered black borrowers into expensive, untenable subprime loans at the height of the housing bubble, The Washington Post reports.

It’s an accusation Wells Fargo has categorically denied. But Jacobson is far from the only person to make such claims about a major bank. A Federal Reserve study in 2009 found that 55 percent of black home buyers were guided toward subprime mortgages by their lenders, compared with just 17 percent of white homebuyers, according to CBS News. At this point, evidence of a pattern is hard to ignore.

Wells Fargo has been hit with at least four major court actions alleging predatory practices on the part of its loan officers—a lawsuit from the city of Baltimore, in which Jacobson’s testimony plays a key role; a separate lawsuit from the city of Memphis; a probe from the Department of Justice; and civil charges from the Federal Reserve, accusing Wells Fargo of pushing thousands of minority borrowers into subprime contracts.

Wells Fargo paid $85 million last year to settle the Federal Reserve charges, without admitting wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, other major lenders—including HSBC and Countrywide, the troubled mortgage servicer later swallowed up by Bank of America—have faced similar accusations.

A former vice president at JPMorgan also reportedly told New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that account executives at that bank sought out financially vulnerable customers—people with limited fluency in English, or little education or experience with the mortgage process—and urged them into subprime loans. These borrowers were disproportionately black and Latino, Kristof writes.

None of this was without consequences. Black and Latino homeowners were 70 percent more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure in the three years leading up to 2010.

9771: BHM 2012—Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo jumps on the Tuskegee Airmen bandwagon.

9479: Bouncing Bank Transfer Day.

On Bank Transfer Day, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wells Fargo launched a special bank exclusively for U.S. households with at least $50 million to invest. Brilliant.

Super bank for super rich opens branch in Chicago

By Jennifer Bjorhus

Wells Fargo’s folksy wooden stagecoach is about to go after the carriage trade, as the bank launches a newly reorganized wealth management business aimed at families with $50 million or more to invest.

The new unit, with an office in Chicago, made its debut last week under the name Abbot Downing, after the early 19th century builder of upscale custom stagecoaches. It features a full range of services to cater to the super rich, complete with psychologists and staff to build family genealogies.

Abbot Downing will have $28 billion in assets under management and offices in major cities. The company targets the estimated 10,000 U.S. households with $50 million or more to invest with a particular focus on baby boomers with family businesses to sell.

Banks have been chasing rich people for centuries, of course. But as they struggle to increase profits in the current wobbly economy, bankers are finding the ultra-rich more alluring than ever.

Also driving the trend are the tide of aging baby boomers, various acquisitions banks have made and the costs of regulatory compliance, said Steven Crosby, a senior managing director for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“Clearly it’s a profitable area, and good businesses are always looking to leverage profitable segments,” Crosby said.

Wells Fargo rival U.S. Bancorp announced last spring that it was creating a new boutique unit focused exclusively on investors with assets of $25 million or more. Its new Ascent Private Capital Management unit is set to open in December in Minneapolis.

Jim Steiner, who will lead Abbott Downing, said he’s particularly interested in the rise in mergers-and-acquisitions deals as aging baby boomers face selling the family business and then handling thorny issues related to passing on the money.

“I think over the next five to 10 years, there’s going to be more and more of those kinds of liquidity transactions,” Steiner said.

The business will have a “very boutiquey” feel, he said. In addition to such traditional services as estate planning, it will offer a slew of more personal services, such as help with family dynamics, leadership transition and building family genealogies.

Unchanged will be Wells Fargo Private Bank, another part of Wells Fargo focusing on people with $1 million to $50 million to invest.

Scripps Howard News Service

8669: Financially Unfit.

The person responsible for this ad should have been sent to a Photoshop® class.

6991: Wells Fargo Not So Well.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Madigan sues Wells Fargo

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan is suing Wells Fargo and Co., alleging the national mortgage lender discriminated against black and Latino homeowners by selling them high-cost home loans.

Madigan’s lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, contends white borrowers received lower-cost loans than minority borrowers with similar incomes. The suit also alleges the firm’s policies and procedures rewarded employees for placing borrowers into high-cost mortgages, and it seeks restitution for those who received unfair loans, which could include reworking mortgage contracts. Wells Fargo rejected that assertion, stating: “The policies, systems, and controls we have in place — including in Illinois — ensure race is not a factor in the pricing or products we offer.”

6392: BHM 2009.

Wells Fargo salutes BHM with royalty-free stock photography.

6062: A Legacy Of Lameness.

These ads have been around for a while, and even appeared on this blog via past posts. But given the current bank fiascos, it seemed appropriate to take another look. Both Black-targeted messages make reference to building a legacy. Looks like C. David Moody may have to rethink his idea on the topic.

6050: FYI 3Q 411.

Profiting with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Coca-Cola reported a 14 percent increase in 3Q profits. While U.S. sales were weak, the overall profit boost came from emerging markets. Maybe the U.S. should trade Coke for oil.

• Delta Airlines reported 3Q losses at $50 million. That’s probably about $1 for every piece of luggage the airline lost.

• Wells Fargo 3Q profits dropped 25 percent. It’s pretty crazy when your profits drop so dramatically, but you’re still able to find $14.4 billion to buy another bank.

6049: A New Tradition Interrupted.

Um, maybe Great-Grandma knew what she was doing after all.

6040: Limited Interest.

Breaking the bank in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Well, Wells Fargo will acquire Wachovia, although Citigroup plans to sue for $60 billion. Um, Citigroup had intended to buy Wachovia for $2.1 billion. Talk about serious interest charges. It’s another reason to avoid Citigroup credit cards.

• Conservative nutcase organization American Family Association ended its boycott of Mickey D’s after a company executive resigned from a gay and lesbian business association. Yeah, that boycott was really hurting the fast feeder. The AFA probably just wanted to get in on the latest Monopoly Game action.

• O.J. Simpson wants a new trial. If denied, he plans to show up and demand an appeal with a few armed pals.

6031: Corporate Love Connections.

Rocky relationships in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Citigroup agreed to calm down and not pursue legal action yet. At least until noon on Wednesday. Which gives Ogilvy & Mather employees an extra day to update their résumés.

• Bank of America reported 3Q profits dropped 68 percent. Maybe they’ll soon join Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Citigroup as a foursome.

• Mars and Wrigley consummated a $23 billion marriage. The wedding buffet featured lots of Doublemint gum and Snickers bars. Wonder which ad agencies will be left holding the bouquet in this hookup.

6027: A Few More Reasons To Hate Mondays.

Cutting remarks in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Kraft was slated to announce major job cuts on Monday. As if employees needed another reason to hate Mondays.

• eBay announced plans to cut 1,000 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce. Their company name tags and office supplies will go on auction soon.

• Wells Fargo and Citigroup continued to battle through the weekend over the opportunity to buy Wachovia, with neither side giving in. Meanwhile Ogilvy & Mather employees are probably withdrawing any savings from all three banks.

6023: Updated Bank Statement.

A judge blocked Wells Fargo from buying Wachovia Bank for $14.8 billion, as Citigroup continued to argue its earlier agreement to purchase Wachovia for $2.1 billion was a done deal. Maybe somebody should get LendingTree® involved—the organization’s tagline reads, “When banks compete, you win.” Regardless of the outcome, Ogilvy & Mather still loses.