A US lender will pay $20million (£16.5million) to settle claims of discrimination against minority homebuyers, the Justice Department says.
Trident Mortgage Company, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, faces allegations of discriminatory lending in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The funds will be used to improve borrowing opportunities in underserved neighborhoods, DOJ officials said.
It is the second largest credit discrimination settlement in history.
This practice – known as “redlining” – was widespread in the 20th century but is illegal under US law.
Banks and other lenders drew red markers on maps and selected neighborhoods where they wanted to avoid lending. These were disproportionately areas inhabited by racial minorities.
To date, Black and Hispanic households are much less likely to own a home compared to white households.
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Trident engaged in this practice from at least 2015 to 2019, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
It claims that Trident’s offices were concentrated in white-majority neighborhoods and that its loan officers were not servicing the lending needs of potential minority homebuyers in the cities of Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington.
The complaint also alleges that loan officers and other employees sent and received work emails containing racial slurs and labeling minority communities as “ghettos”.
As part of its settlement with the federal government, Trident — which no longer writes mortgages — will hire another lender to provide $20 million in loan subsidies and other services to the communities it has redlined.
It is also required to maintain at least four office locations in these neighborhoods, as well as to hire loan officers and a full-time community loan officer dedicated to serving minority homebuyers.
“Redlining is not a problem from a bygone era,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said. “Trident’s unlawful redlining activities denied communities of color equal access to residential mortgages, deprived them of wealth-building opportunities, and devalued real estate in their neighborhoods.”
HomeServices of America, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that owns Trident, said it “strongly disagrees” with the Justice Department’s findings in the settlement.
“Trident and any of its affiliates have never denied or discouraged access to mortgage loans or other services because of race,” HomeServices said in a statement, noting that Trident was not required to admit wrongdoing as part of the case.
Mr. Buffett himself has not yet commented.
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