WASHINGTON -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fined six lenders last week for filing late or inaccurate reports that regulators use to detect mortgage lending bias.
Federal regulators recently announced that they would crack down on banks not making proper filings under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The FDIC's $2,000 to $4,000 fines were the first manifestations of the pledge.
"These are the first, but probably not the last or the largest, penalties the FDIC will impose for HMDA violations," said Andrew C. Hove Jr., acting chairman of the FDIC.
Mr. Hove made clear that the institutions being fined were not accused of lending bias.
HMDA requires certain lenders to report by March 31 every year the race, gender, income, and property location of home loan applications made the previous year. The lender also must disclose whether the loan was made or denied. This information is made available to the public by the government about six months later.
The six institutions and the fines they paid for late or inaccurate HMDA reports are: Hull Co-operative Bank, Hull, Mass., $4,000; GN Mortgage, West Hills, Calif., $3,000; Bank of Georgia, Watkinsville, Ga., $2,000; First State Bank of Covington, Okla., $2,000; First State Bank of Mesquite, Tex., $2,000; and the Bank of South Carolina, Charleston, $2,000.
