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A recent study suggests that credit card issuers' marketing practices show evidence of racial bias. The good news is that self-tests can help lenders fix fair lending compliance issues, according to Rich Walker of the Winterberry Group.
September 8 -
Expanded reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act will give regulators access to a panoply of sensitive data. Banks should take steps to address any fair lending issues before the new rules take effect, according to Warren W. Traiger.
August 12 -
Black and Hispanic mortgage borrowers had lower credit scores and higher default rates than Asian and non-Hispanic white borrowers, according to analysis released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.
September 18
U.S. Bank in Minneapolis will pay nearly $11,500 to a Native American couple in North Dakota to settle a lending-discrimination complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
U.S. Bank, its appraiser Red Sky Risk Services (formerly USB Lending Support Services) and one of its loan officers were accused of violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to refinance the couple's mortgage loan "because their property is located on a reservation," HUD said in a press release Monday.
The couple alleged in a complaint to HUD that the loan officer told them U.S. Bank was unable to make the loan and that Red Sky was unable to appraise the property because their property is located on a Native-American reservation, the release said.
U.S. Bank agreed to pay the couple's $11,489.56 U.S. Bank credit card balance and to approve the couple's application for a mortgage refinancing at the same interest rate and other terms that they had applied for, the release said.
In addition, U.S. Bank and Red Sky agreed to amend their policies on residential mortgage lending on properties that lie on Native American reservations to ensure they comply with the Fair Housing Act, the release said.
The $80.4-million-asset U.S. Bank is a unit of U.S. Bancorp.