Today, Reuters released a report citing that M&T Bank has allegedly been steering customers of minority status to LMI loans and to non-white neighborhoods.
In defense of M&T Bank, I find the last charge to be ludicrous. Mortgage Loan Officers at M&T Bank or the Bank of What not could care less where someone buys a home. They care about writing a mortgage.... but that's what this report claims
Here's the link http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/03/mt-bnk-us-discrimination-lawsuit-idUSL1N0VD24M20150203
And here's the text:
M&T Bank accused in lawsuit of New York City lending bias
NEW YORK
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Feb
3 (Reuters) - M&T Bank Corp was sued on Tuesday by a nonprofit
group that accused the large mid-Atlantic lender of discriminatory
mortgage lending practices in New York City.
In
a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the Fair Housing Justice
Center said M&T in 2013 and 2014 used racial criteria to steer
prospective borrowers to particular neighborhoods, and to determine
their eligibility for mortgages.
The
advocacy group said it hired various women to portray themselves to
M&T loan officers as first-time home buyers who were married and had
no children.
Most
of the "testers" who were not white were encouraged by the bank to
apply for mortgages in its "Get Started" program, which helps people buy
homes in lower-income neighborhoods or "majority minority"
neighborhoods such as Harlem in Manhattan, or St. Albans in Queens.
In
contrast, the Buffalo, New York-based lender discouraged white testers
from using that program, encouraged them to move to majority-white areas
such as Murray Hill in Manhattan, and told them they could afford
larger loans and costlier homes than more qualified non-white testers,
the complaint said.
One
loan officer told a white tester about Get Started, only to then
express doubt about buying "in an area where you're a min ... more
minority than majority," the complaint added.
Fred
Freiberg, executive director of the nonprofit, said in a statement that
such activity "serves to reinforce patterns of residential racial
segregation in New York City."
M&T
spokesman Michael Zabel said the bank has a "deep commitment" to fair
lending, as reflected by its top scores from federal regulators
examining its practices, and a recent report on bank reinvestment in New
York City from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing
Development, an advocacy group.
The
lawsuit accuses M&T of violating the federal Fair Housing Act, and
state and city human rights laws. It seeks to halt alleged
discrimination, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. Nine
testers were also named as plaintiffs.
M&T said it has more than 700 branches stretching from New York to Florida.
Its
planned $3.7 billion purchase of Paramus, New Jersey-based Hudson City
Bancorp Inc, which was announced in August 2012, has been repeatedly
delayed by federal regulators to allow M&T to strengthen its money
laundering controls.
The
case is Fair Housing Justice Center Inc et al v. M&T Bank Corp,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-00779.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Christian Plumb)
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