A federal judge has rejected the Trump Administration’s request to release from court supervision a bank that had been accused of discriminatory lending....more
7/29/2025
/ Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Redlining ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Violations ,
Trump Administration
As previously reported, based on an unopposed motion submitted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the October 2021 redlining consent order with Trustmark National Bank was...more
6/17/2025
/ Banks ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Penalties ,
Redlining ,
Settlement Agreements
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a motion with a federal district court to terminate early the September 2022 consent order with Lakeland Bank (Lakeland) that settled allegations of redlining under the Fair...more
6/16/2025
/ Banks ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
Redlining ,
Settlement
President Trump recently signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy“ to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)...more
5/5/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Deregulation ,
Disparate Impact ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HUD ,
Mortgages ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas Dept of Housing v Inclusive Communities ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
As previously reported, this summer the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a housing discrimination charge under the Fair Housing Act against an appraisal company, individual appraiser, appraisal...more
12/18/2024
/ Appraisal ,
Appraisers ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
Disparate Impact ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Housing Market ,
HUD ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Statutory Violations ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the 2025 loan limits for FHA insured forward mortgage loans and FHA insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). The announcements were made...more
The Justice Department announced that Citadel Federal Credit Union has agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
10/14/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Access to Credit ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Statutory Violations
Saying that reverse redlining is a form of discrimination, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has refused to dismiss a discrimination case alleging that Texas developer Colony Ridge specifically...more
10/8/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Redlining ,
Regulation B ,
Reverse Discrimination
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently charged multiple entities with housing discrimination based on an asserted biased appraisal and denial of a mortgage refinance loan application based on the...more
In a major win for the CFPB, in CFPB v. Townstone Financial, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (7th Circuit) recently held that the Regulation B provision prohibiting discrimination under the Equal...more
7/18/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit ,
Creditors ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Oral Argument ,
Regulation B
On June 17, 2024, FHA announced in draft Mortgage Letter 2024-12 a proposed revision to its Defect Taxonomy to clarify that fraud or material misrepresentation involving a sponsored Third-Party Originator (TPO) is a Tier 1...more
In Mortgagee Letter 2024-10, FHA announced a requirement for FHA approved lenders to notify the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of Significant Cybersecurity Incidents. The Mortgagee Letter, which is...more
5/28/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Cybersecurity ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HUD ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgagee Letters ,
Mortgages ,
NIST ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Reporting Requirements
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a press release announcing a 2023 update to its Equity Action Plan. The Equity Action Plan is part of HUD’s efforts to implement President Biden’s...more
2/19/2024
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fannie Mae ,
FHFA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
HUD ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Patriot Bank (Patriot or Bank) has agreed to pay $1.9 million to resolve allegations that the Bank engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
1/31/2024
/ Banks ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining
On December 8, 2023, oral arguments were held before a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the CFPB v. Townstone Financial case, in which the CFPB alleges that Townstone Financial, a...more
12/14/2023
/ Chevron Deference ,
Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Oral Argument ,
Redlining ,
Regulation B ,
SCOTUS
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the 2024 loan limits for FHA insured forward mortgage loans and FHA insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). The announcements were made...more
11/30/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Freddie Mac ,
HECM ,
HUD ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgagee Letters ,
Mortgages
Recently the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a proposed consent order with Ameris Bank to resolve allegations of redlining from 2016 through 2021 in majority Black and Hispanic areas in the Bank’s Jacksonville,...more
10/30/2023
/ Banks ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Regulation B
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement agreement with Washington Trust Company, of Westerly (WTC) to resolve claims that WTC redlined majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Rhode Island....more
10/24/2023
/ Consent Order ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
ECOA ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Loan Officer ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Redlining ,
Regulation B ,
Rhode Island ,
Settlement
More than ten years after the filing of the initial complaint challenging the 2013 disparate impact rule (Rule) adopted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Fair Housing Act (Act), the...more
The Mortgage Bankers Association and Housing Policy Council (the “Associations”) recently filed an Amici Curiae brief supporting the position of Townstone Financial regarding the scope of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced in Mortgagee Letter 2023.13 that lenders must use the Supplemental Consumer Information Form (SCIF) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in connection...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a final rule reinstating the 2013 version of its disparate impact rule under the Fair Housing Act (Act) to replace a version of the rule adopted by...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed a Statement of Interest regarding the application of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to a...more
In Mortgagee Letter 2023-01, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) addressed the use of the revised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loan documents with FHA Title II forward mortgage loans. As...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a draft Mortgagee Letter on reconsideration of value (ROV) policies in connection with appraisals for FHA insured mortgage loans. The draft Mortgagee...more