Links in “Discriminatory Practices/Disparate Impact”

HUD announced today a Conciliation Agreement between the Connecticut Fair Housing Center (CFHC) and respondents Lil-1 Associates, AllPoints Realty and realtor Lillian Polak.  The real estate companies will pay more than $24,000 to settle allegations that they published discriminatory listings and advertisements for condominiums specifying that children were not permitted; which is in direct violation with the Fair Housing Act. [6/27/14]

HUD Utah-based Mountain American Credit Union will settle for $25,000 based on allegations of discrimination against prospective borrowers on maternity leave, breaching the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition against sex and familial status discrimination. [6/26/14]

The CFPB ordered GE Capital Retail Bank to provide $225 million in remediation for  deceptive credit card add-on practices, discriminatory debt relief promotions, and for violating fair lending laws. CFPB's Director Cordray states, "this kind of conduct has no place in the consumer financial marketplace." Cordray's press release details each violation and the action to be taken by the CFPB. [6/20/14]

Spotlight shines on a culture of discrimination and retaliation, “abnormal” numbers of breaches of consumers’ personally identifiable information, and examination procedures like “fishing expeditions,” where examiners were told to expand their sample size if their initial examination did not come up with any violations. [6/20/14]

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) sent a letter today to CFPB Director Richard Cordray once again pressing the CFPB for information about its March 2013 auto finance guidance and its actions since that time to pursue allegedly discriminatory practices by auto finance companies. That guidance sought to publicly establish the CFPB’s grounds for asserting violations of ECOA against bank and nonbank auto finance companies for the alleged effects of facially neutral pricing policies. [6/16/14]

The House appropriations bill includes an amendment that prohibits the Department of Justice from using funding to enforce disparate impact actions. The bill now moves to the Senate. [6/13/14]

Two prior Supreme Court of the United States cases that could have resolved the issue of disparate impact, which focuses not on discriminatory intent, but discriminatory impact, were settled before the court could rule. A new case, Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Department of Housing, could give the court a third chance. [6/10/14]

While HMDA does not survey for sexual orientation, a look at same-sex co-applicants reveals higher denial rates than for mixed-sex couples with a male as the primary applicant. [6/10/14]

Providence, R.I., accuses Santander Bank of deliberatly cutting back on lending to qualified homebuyers in minority neighborhoods while increasing mortgage lending to predominantly white areas. Also see Bank Lawyer's take here. [6/2]

Los Angeles goes after JPMorgan for allegedly targeting minority borrowers with predatory loans, the latest in a string of cases where municipalities go after lenders. [6/2]