Anti-Discrimination Settlement Results In $250,000 Distribution, “Aggressive” Safeguards
May 19th, 2011
Following a civil rights investigation into “discriminatory practices against African-American borrowers” on the part of Mortgage Master Inc., Massachusetts’s attorney general has reached a settlement with the company[1]. The company faced claims that it charged more than 200 black borrowers up to $1,000 more on their loans than it charged their white and Latino counterparts[2]. The company already has paid $585,000 in settlement claims that it “used unlicensed staffers, underwrote reverse mortgages without approval and otherwise broke banking laws.” The firm’s president insists that the latest “collaborative review with the attorney general’s office” revealed no violation of fair lending laws, although an AG spokeswoman accused him of “mischaracterizing” the process.
$95,000 of the $250,000 will be used to make payments and restitution to borrowers who were overcharged on their loans. The other $155,000 will go to nonprofit groups providing fair lending, consumer and financial education services in Massachusetts. Mortgage Master will also train all of its employees in the future about anti-discrimination laws and face review by the AG’s office and fair lending monitors.
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[1] http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news25154/massachusetts-attorney-general-reaches-250000-anti-discrimination-settlement-mortgage-mast
[2]http://news.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view/2011_0518lender_to_pay_250g_in_bias_case_settlement/srvc=home&position=also
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