Wells Fargo Bank

Letter to Kovacevich and Stumpf now being drafted.

420 Montgomery Street
San Francisco,  CA  94104
1-866-249-3302 

DES MOINES, Iowa (PRNewswire) Oct. 22 — Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the nation's leading lender to minority homebuyers, today announced that it is significantly expanding its commitment to serving the needs of California's burgeoning Hispanic, African American and Asian American homebuyer population.

Over the next few months, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage plans to continue efforts to open 30 new stores in diverse neighborhoods and hire more than 250 dedicated and in-language home mortgage consultants to increase the size of its diverse sales force. In addition, the company has launched a multi-million dollar, multi-lingual, in-culture advertising campaign to reach Hispanic, African American and Asian American homebuyers through television, print, radio and outdoor advertising.

"Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is committed to understanding the diverse cultural needs and concerns of our ethnic customers so that we can better serve them. Our expanded efforts are evidence of this commitment," said Brad Blackwell, executive vice president and national sales manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. "By opening more stores in multicultural communities and hiring more bilingual, bicultural consultants, we intend to achieve our goal of being a trusted advisor to all of our customers and provide the advice, education and the products and services they need to realize their home buying goals."

The announcement builds on the mortgage division's long-term efforts to reach out to diverse homebuyers. More than seven years ago, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage launched its Emerging Markets division to increase homeownership among ethnic minority, low- and moderate income, and first-time homebuyers. As a result of this initiative, Wells Fargo has ranked as the nation's leading originator to ethnic minority homebuyers the last three years according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.*

"For decades, homeownership has been the main path to wealth for most Americans, in particular, ethnic families," said Jackson Cosey, senior vice president of Emerging Markets for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. "We believe that by redoubling our efforts in California, we can help even more families create financial and personal well-being through homeownership."

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a leading originator and servicer of residential mortgages, is part of Wells Fargo & Company . Wells Fargo Home Mortgage serves all 50 states through the leading mortgage lending network in the country, with a presence in more than 1,900 mortgage and Wells Fargo Bank stores and on the Internet. Its retail and wholesale lending funded about one of every eight homes financed in the United States in 2003.