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A message from Chuck Bishop Head of Wells Fargo Home Lending Diverse Segments
Wells Fargo has an incredible opportunity to make an impact on the lives of millions of customers every single day. We’re in the business of empowering customers to achieve their dreams. And as we do that work, we’re deeply focused on ensuring that the door to opportunity is open to all on an equitable basis.
I am honored to lead the Wells Fargo Home Lending Diverse Segments team. Our group leads the Home Lending team’s strategy to increase opportunities for low-to-moderate income and multi-cultural homeowners and buyers. I believe deeply in this work and appreciate, every day, the opportunity our team has to make an impact on the lives of our customers and the communities we serve. Owning a home, after all, is one of the most important pathways to intergenerational wealth creation. The steps we take as individuals, as a company, and as an industry can play an important role in making homeownership – and all the benefits it entails – more equitable.
Throughout this supplement, leaders from across Wells Fargo share commentary about the work we’re doing to help our customers achieve their goals and promote racial equity in all of the work we do. That means more than just helping today’s customers thrive – it’s also about doing what we can to pave the way for wealth creation across generations.
Whether it’s buying a home or establishing a trust, the actions we take today to support our customers can have impacts that resonate through the years for future generations. Taken together, these steps can make a real contribution to reducing the racial wealth gap and advancing equity across the financial system.
Large financial institutions like Wells Fargo are uniquely positioned to move the needle on issues of financial inclusion. I believe that we’re making great progress – and that we can do even more when we work together. We’re committed to doing all we can to make an impact both through our own actions and through our efforts to drive collaboration across the industry in pursuit a shared belief in building a financial system that works for all. g Throughout this supplement, leaders from across Wells Fargo share commentary about the work we’re doing to help our customers achieve their goals and promote racial equity in all of the work we do.
PROTECTING YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS
5 Dr. Shantella Sherman (Photo by India Kea)
Reaching Back to Retool Ourselves for Financial Success
By Dr. Shantella Y. Sherman WI Special Editions Editor
One of the crown jewels of historical insight can be found in the commonsense approaches African Americans made towards financial growth and stability against aggressive contrary forces following Emancipation. In addition to establishing entire towns and cities across the country, these newly enfranchised Americans established financial institutions, including banks that promoted self-determination and independence.
Today, many African Americans lack a clear understanding of the nation’s financial systems, institutions, and policies – and even less clarity about how their own money operates within them. n 2018, just one-third of Americans could correctly answer at least four out of five financial literacy questions on concepts such as mortgages, interest rates, inflation, and risk, according to a 2018 study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The disparity is greatest among African Americans. According to the 2022 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index, African Americans answered an average of 37 percent of the study’s financial literacy questions correctly, whereas white Americans answered an average of 55 percent of questions correctly.
So, what happened in the last century that seems to have erased such economic strength?
Remember, whether it was a few pennies at a time earned by washerwomen or the salaries of hard-working Pullman Porters, money held by African Americans found its way into savings clubs, investment opportunities, benevolent societies, and the actuaries that generated wealth for successive generations. Said plainly: African Americans took time to learn how the nation’s financial systems worked and then made those systems work for them.
One great example was The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, founded in 1898. Its goal of uplifting Black families by insuring policyholders against accidents and death, also included providing expert financial literacy programs for Black communities. The success of this mutual enterprise was a tremendous source of pride for African Americans in Durham and across the country.
Its Mutual Thrift Club Policy targeted children as a monetary benefit as well as a financial literacy plan. An ad from their 1940 campaign reads: “Most children need
5 North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company founders, John Merrick, Charles Clinton Spaulding, Dr Aaron. M. Moore. (Courtesy of NC Mutual )
NEED HELP WITH STUDENT LOANS? CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE, SECURITIES & BANKING
The Bowser Administration is committed to providing information about student loans to District borrowers and their parents as they prepare for college. The Student Loan Ombudsman ensures that student loan servicers comply with the law and treat borrowers fairly. The Ombudsman educates District residents about their student loan and repayment plan options.
CONTACT DISB STUDENT LOAN OMBUDSMAN TODAY!
The Ombudsman conducts outreach events and offers one-on-one office appointments to address your student loan concerns.
202.727.8000 | DCLoanHelp@dc.gov disb.complaints@dc.gov DISB.dc.gov/studentloanhelp
DC Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, 1050 First Street NE, Suite 801 Washington, DC 20002
u Understand available resources
• Sources of college funding
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Program
• Student loan consolidation opportunities
• Student loan repayment options u Avoid student loan default
u Identify and report scams u Resolve complaints with student loan servicers
lessons in THRIFT and practical knowledge about the advantage of a systematic long-range SAVINGS PLAN. If you have young sons or daughters, give serious consideration to starting them off RIGHT with Life Insurance… ‘What gift has Providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children?’ – Cicero”
Like North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, The Washington Informer is dedicated to providing the tools Black communities need to move forward successfully in an increasingly challenging financial environment. We believe that the greatest lessons and assets have roots in the past, so we are reaching back to retool our readers with basic information about economics and finances. We invite you to use this supplement as a quick reference to financial terms, policies, and resources.
