On March 10 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced an agreement with Alpine Bank & Trust resolving allegations the Northern Illinois-based lender discriminated against African American and Hispanic mortgage applicants. HOPE Fair Housing Center of Wheaton, Illinois filed a complaint with HUD claiming the lender’s business service areas excluded majority African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful for any person or other entity whose business includes residential real estate-related […]
Tag: HUD
WORTH WATCHING – BOA DISCRIMINATION CASE
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced it has charged Bank of America, N.A., and two of its employees with violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against prospective Hispanic mortgage borrowers in Charleston, South Carolina. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a complaint with HUD claiming the bank discriminated against prospective borrowers who are Hispanic by failing to provide them with information about loan products or by offering them […]
LEP – THE NEXT BIG THING?
On September 15, 2016 the Department of Housing and Urban Development published guidance on Fair Housing Act Protections for Persons With Limited English Proficiency. The guidance applies to your role as a mortgage lender, and your role as a landlord, if applicable. Limited English Proficiency (LEP) refers to a person’s limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English. Questionable practices include refusing to allow an LEP borrower to have mortgage documents translated, or refusing […]
ANOTHER MATERNITY LEAVE CASE
On July 29, 2016 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it has reached a Conciliation Agreement with Philadelphia-based Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank, collectively known as Citizens Bank, settling allegations that the bank violated the Fair Housing Act when it told a female applicant that she would need to return to work before her application for a home equity line of credit could be approved. […]
SCOTUS DISPARATE IMPACT RULING
With rulings on Affordable Care and gay marriage attracting most of the attention, a ruling on Fair Lending almost got lost in the shuffle. On June 25 the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rendered a decision in the case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs et al. vs. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. The case involved the disparate impact theory of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. The issue to be decided was whether […]