Wells Fargo venture will handle Dominion home's mortgage business

The Columbus Dispatch

Faced with investigations and lawsuits over its moneylending practices, Dominion Homes Inc. is calling on Wells Fargo to help provide mortgages to its customers.

Dominion is forming a mortgage bank with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the largest new-construction lender in the United States. The bank will replace Dominion Homes Financial Services, which Dominion created in 1999 to write mortgages for the homes it builds.

In recent months, Dominion has faced inquiries from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Ohio attorney general, and lawsuits from customers who say their houses are worth less than they paid for them.

The mortgage bank will be a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, which will be its majority owner.

"We’re not getting out of the mortgage business; we’re changing our approach to it," Dominion Chief Financial Officer William G. Cornely said.

It appears the Wells Fargo team is throwing away the so called Warren Buffett clean image.