The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice have launched an investigation into PNC Financial Services for possible discrimination on the pricing of certain mortgages.
The CFPB and the Justice Department are investigating mortgages by a firm PNC acquired in 2009 known as National City Corp. Regulators are looking into whether those loans, as well as loans originated by the Pittsburgh-based bank, were priced in such a way that created a disparate impact against a protected class of borrowers.
"PNC's disclosure of a joint investigation by the Justice Department's civil rights division and the CFPB follows a December announcement of an agreement between the two agencies aimed at strengthening coordination on fair lending enforcement," writes American Banker's Rachel Witkowski.
"Over the last few years, we have experienced an increase in regulatory and governmental investigations, audits and other inquiries," PNC said in its filing. "Areas of current regulatory or governmental inquiry with respect to PNC include consumer financial protection, fair lending, mortgage origination and servicing, mortgage-related insurance and reinsurance, sales by third party providers of voluntary identity protection services to PNC customers, municipal finance activities, and participation in government insurance or guarantee programs."
For the full piece see "
