Members close $30,000 in Wells Fargo accounts.
You should have seen the smiles on the faces of the six CCI members who proudly closed their Wells Fargo accounts this morning. And, those of the three dozen others there to cheer them on. It was a fun action!
Members moved their money and closed $30,000 in accounts in protest of Wells Fargo’s investment in private prisons, financing of payday lenders and factory farms, and the bank’s questionable lending practices leading up to the financial crisis.
“Wells Fargo has taken money from our community, and given back pain,” said CCI member Gloria Aguilar, who closed a Home Equity Line of Credit, “I will not do business with Wells Fargo until they change their practices and put people before profits.”
Aguilar and other Latino members of Iowa CCI singled out Wells Fargo’s relationship with GEO Group, one of the largest private prisons in the country. According to the GEO Group’s proxy statement dated March 23, 2012, “Wells Fargo & Company reported that, as of December 31, 2011, it beneficially owned 4,446,026 shares with sole voting power over 4,398,614 of such shares, shared voting power over 794 of such shares, sole dispositive power over 4,300,251 of such shares and shared dispositive power over 80 of such shares.”
“Private prisons make money by tearing families apart, and it’s wrong for Wells Fargo to be helping them out” Aguilar said, “all we’ve heard from Wells Fargo is ‘no!’ and we’re here today to tell Wells that we’ll be saying ‘no’ to them until they change their ways.”
Iowa CCI will continue to encourage Wells Fargo customers across Iowa to close their accounts until the bank pledges to stop engaging in activities that profit at the expense of everyday people. Our efforts are part of a national big bank Move Our Money campaign.
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