Redlining Isn’t What it Used To Be
Discrimination and Bias in Residential Lending
On March 11, New Jersey Attorney General (AG) Matthew Platkin and the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR) announced that DCR issued a finding of probable cause against Advance Funding Partners/Same Day Funding (Advance...more
In a significant development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) has finally reached a settlement with Townstone Financial, Inc. (Townstone) in the first redlining case brought against a nonbank...more
On October 29, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights (DCR) released a report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into Republic First Bank (Republic) and its...more
On October 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they reached a settlement with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation (Fairway). This settlement...more
On October 10, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark redlining settlement with Citadel Federal Credit Union (Citadel), marking the first such agreement with a credit union in the DOJ’s history. This...more
The Justice Department announced that Citadel Federal Credit Union has agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
Previously, I have written about regulatory enforcement of anti-redlining regulations. I pointed out the problems and potentially misleading statistical conclusions caused by the application of what is called a “REMA” or...more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
In a recent article in National Mortgage Professional entitled "Manufacturing Fair Lending”, former chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr, Paul...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
For the last two years, the federal regulatory agencies have been waging a war on redlining by mortgage lenders — a war that shows no signs of abating. Originally published in Law360 - December 12, 2023....more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
Last week, the annual Community Reinvestment Act & Fair Lending Colloquium took place in Austin, Texas. Two officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed in detail the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” led by...more
On October 24, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced a settlement with Wisconsin auto dealer group Rhinelander Auto Center, Inc. (Rhinelander), its current and former owners, and...more
In the last three weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached two more settlements with lenders under its Combatting Redlining Initiative, which began in October 2021. On September 27, the DOJ announced that...more
Last week, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Inc. filed a complaint against Liberty Bank in Connecticut federal district court alleging that the Bank engaged in discriminatory mortgage lending in violation of the federal...more
In a blog post entitled “How S.2155 (the Bank Lobbyist Act) Facilitates Discriminatory Lending” Professor Adam Levitin claimed that “This bill functionally exempts 85% of US banks and credit unions from fair lending laws in...more
On the heels of Deutsche Bank’s $7.2 billion deal, Credit Suisse has finalized the terms of its own MBS-related settlement. The Swiss bank will pay $5.3 billion to resolve claims that it misled investors about the standards...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a proposed consent order with BancorpSouth Bank to settle charges that the bank’s mortgage lending practices violated the...more
On September 24, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a joint action against Hudson City Savings Bank, F.S.B. (Hudson). The complaint alleges that Hudson...more