The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans, has launched a nationwide boycott against Wells Fargo and the Hilton Hotel corporation for dishonesty and targeting the Black community.
The NBCI believes that Hilton intentionally added fees to customers bills that were misleading and Wells Fargo has a list of transgressions that must be repaid.
“You only have to list its sins from the past 20 months to realize how rotten this company is,” said Rev. Anthony Evans, NBCI president. “We will not accept their apologies, they are simply thieves and because they are white they do not go to jail.”
NBCI disbursed a timeline of Wells Fargo’s offenses spanning from September 2016 to April 2018 that resulted in changes in leadership and hefty fines.
In 2016, federal regulators revealed that Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts without their customers’ knowledge. The bank was assessed a $185 million fine.
In July 2017, Wells Fargo admitted it charged at least 570,000 customers for auto insurance they did not need. The company said an internal review found about 20,000 customers may have defaulted on their car loans for related reasons.
“A billion dollars was too little of a fine for Wells Fargo, [which] is a trillion-dollar company,” Evans said. They have been stealing since 1852. We will not accept their apology. Boycott! Boycott! Boycott!”
The NBCI has 60 public actions planned against Wells Fargo and is gearing up to go after the Hilton corporation for “intentionally misleading the public when they add on costly items like the internet even when Honors members are promised the internet for free.”
“These kinds of add-ons are usually missed when the guest checks in. This is why we are launching a nationwide boycott,” Evans said. “Our first action against the Hilton corporation was in Washington, D.C., at the Capital Hilton on 16th and K streets. We planned some 100 additional public campaigns over the next two years because Hilton refuses to acknowledge these add-ons as unauthorized. NBCI will be working with Consumer Protection Agencies on state and private levels across the country.”
Earlier this year NBCI filed a complaint against Hilton with the state of New York. They will meet with the 23 major African American denominations at the end of the summer to coordinate activities over the next two years.
“Our message is simple: we want the Hilton corporation to stop with these unethical, illegal add-ons to their customer’s bills,” Evans said. “We suspect Hilton has profited over $30,000,000.00 over these illegal add-ons. We are urging all of our 15.7 million members not to stay at any Hilton related business: Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton, Curio A Collection by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Canopy by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations, Home2 Suites by Hilton, and Tru by Hilton.”