responsible credit
HOME   IMPRINT - ECRC   PRIVACY POLICY   SITEMAP   | ECRC IN THE MEDIA |
Search OK

 
Home
NCRC Accuses Five Lenders of Redlining
In Brief: Group Accuses Five Lenders of Redlining

American Banker - Tuesday, March 21, 2006
By Jody Shenn

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development accusing five more mortgage lenders of redlining.

The complaints, which the Washington group announced last week, were filed against Regions Financial Corp.'s EquiFirst Corp., Fieldstone Investment Co., NovaStar Financial Inc., South Star Funding LLC, and Gelt Financial Corp., as well as some subsidiaries and related businesses.

The group alleges that the lenders violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to make home equity loans on properties worth less than $100,000. The lenders, except for Gelt, also acted illegally by limiting or prohibiting mortgages on row houses, the group said.

Both practices had the effect of limiting the lenders' financing in minority and low-income communities, according to the group, which is being represented by the Washington law firm Relman & Associates. The group alleges harm to itself, as the practices created more work for it, as well as to consumers.

In December the group filed a similar complaint accusing an American International Group Inc. unit of redlining in the Baltimore area. That complaint was also based on home equity loan limits.

On Friday, a HUD spokeswoman said its Office of Fair Housing And Equal Opportunity office was investigating all the complaints but had nothing more to say.

ID: 37107
Author(s): NCRC
Publication date: 28/03/06
   
URL(s):

www.ncrc.org

www.globalfairbanking.org
 

Created: 28/03/06. Last changed: 17/04/06.
Information concerning property and copy right of the content will be given by the Institut For Financial Services (IFF) on demand. A lack of explicit information on this web site does not imply any right for free usage of any content.