Justice Department Race Discrimination Settlement

The U. S. Department of Justice (”DOJ”) issued a September 30, 2009 Press Release announcing that the DOJ and an Alabama bank have reached a settlement which resolves allegations that the bank engaged in a pattern of discrimination on the basis of race.  According to the DOJ’s Press Release posted on the agency’s website at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-crt-1062.html , the DOJ’s lawsuit alleged that the bank charged African-American borrowers higher rates than similarly situated white borrowers on home mortgage related loans.  As stated in the DOJ Press Release, the complaint also alleged that the bank unlawfully failed to provide its lending services and products on an equal basis to majority African American areas in west central Alabama, a practice known as redlining.  DOJ attorneys brought the discrimination lawsuit in Alabama under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.