BofA to pay $335 million to settle Countrywide mortgage bias probe
BofA to pay $335 million to settle Countrywide mortgage bias probe
Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $335 million to settle allegations that Countrywide Financial, which it now owns, systematically discriminated against minority home-buyers at the peak of the U.S. housing boom.
The Justice Department and the Illinois attorney general had alleged that Countrywide charged higher interest rates and other housing-related fees to African American and Latino home buyers than to white applicants with comparable income levels and credit scores.
The company frequently pushed minorities into risky subprime loans rather than into safer prime loans. The collapse of the subprime market beginning in 2007 sparked the U.S. mortgage bust and the brutal recession whose lingering effects continue to reverberate nationwide.
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[Updated at 12:19 p.m. Dec. 21: Frahm also issued this statement on behalf of Bank of America: “We reached this settlement to resolve issues about Countrywide’s alleged historic practices that occurred before Bank of America acquired the company. Bank of America’s practices are not at issue.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/bofa-mortgage-countrywide.html
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