February 4, 2016
The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a press release this week announcing a $1.9 million settlement with a bank in Tennessee over a housing discrimination complaint. According to HUDNo.16-009, the settlement with First Tennessee Bank resolves “allegations that the bank discriminated against African-American and Hispanic applicants by denying them mortgage loans and by allegedly failing to place bank branches in minority-concentrated areas” according to the press release.
The Fair Housing act makes it illegal to discriminate, according to the HUD official site, “in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale of a dwelling because of race or national origin. The Act also makes it unlawful for any person or other entity whose business includes residential real estate-related transactions to discriminate against any person in making available such a transaction, or in the terms or conditions of such a transaction” for reasons of race, national origin, or other prohibited non-financial reasons.
Every family should have an equal shot at becoming a homeowner, regardless of what they look like or where they come from. Anything less is against the law, said HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Gustavo Velasquez, quoted in the press release. He adds, HUD remains committed to ensuring that banks and other lenders comply with the Fair Housing Act.
Often, the only thing that stands in the way of more discrimination is a complaint made by the victims. HUDNo.16-009 notes that this settlement and conciliation agreement was made possible by a complaint lodged by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which “filed with HUD alleging the bank denied loan applications from African-American and Hispanic borrowers at disproportionate rates and failed to place bank branches in minority-concentrated areas in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville.”
First Tennessee Bank must establish a $1.5 million subsidy fund, “to provide interest rate reductions on home mortgages, and down payment or closing cost assistance to qualified borrowers in identified portions of Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville.”
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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