Countrywide Illegally Steered & Overcharged Blacks, Latinos In Home Financing Transactions, Says Illinois AG In Reverse Redlining Lawsuit

From the Office of the Illinois Attorney General:

• Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced [] that she has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide, a subsidiary of Bank of America, for unlawfully discriminating against African American and Latino borrowers in home mortgage sales, in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Illinois Fairness in Lending Act. The Attorney General filed her complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against Countrywide Financial Corporation; Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.; and Full Spectrum Lending, Inc., an arm of Countrywide that mostly sold subprime loans.

• Madigan’s complaint alleges that the former mortgage giant steered African American and Latino borrowers into risky subprime mortgages more often than similarly-situated white borrowers. The complaint also alleges that minority borrowers paid more for mortgages across Countrywide’s product line, including its prime loans. Significantly, Madigan’s analysis of Countrywide loan data found that the racial disparities could not be explained by objective factors, such as borrowers’ credit scores or debt-to-income ratios.

For the rest of the Illinois AG press release, see Madigan Sues Countrywide For Discrimination Against African American And Latino Borrowers (Alleges African American and Latino Homeowners Paid More for Their Mortgages than They Should Have).

For the lawsuit, see People v. Countrywide Financial Corporation, et al.