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Bank of America (BAC) has agreed to compensate mortgage loan applicants who alleged the bank discriminated against some borrowers who received disability income.
September 14 -
Nowhere has the piecemeal approach to postcrisis regulation been more apparent than with the CFPB's Qualified Mortgage rules and its aggressive stance on the fair-lending doctrine of disparate impact.
August 16 -
The Occupy Wall Street protests a few years ago set the stage for the coming return of fair-lending gadflies like the "mother of CRA," Gale Cincotta.
August 14 -
A probe into PNC Financial Services' mortgage lending is stoking fears that regulators are preparing to crack down on other large banks for alleged loan discrimination ahead of a Supreme Court case that might curb the use of the controversial "disparate impact" theory.
August 13
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is charging Fifth Third (FITB) with discriminating against a couple with disabilities who were attempting to refinance their mortgage.
Fifth Third's banking unit, mortgage division and Cranbrook Mortgage Corp. are accused of requiring unnecessary medical documentation from the couple, HUD
Federal law allows lenders to verify income, but they are barred from placing higher qualification standards on applicants who receive disability payments. The Fair Housing Act also prohibits lenders from inquiring about the nature or severity of a disability.
"Persons with disabilities should not have to meet higher mortgage qualification standards because they rely on disability insurance payments as a source of income," HUD's Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Bryan Greene said in a statement. "Banks and mortgage companies may verify income and have eligibility standards, but they may not single out homebuyers with disabilities or deny financing when they are otherwise qualified."
A Fifth Third spokeswoman declined to comment.
The $119 billion-asset Fifth Third, of Cincinnati, is the latest in a string of mortgage lenders charged with engaging in