October 9, 2014
Have you ever wanted to apply for an FHA home loan only to experience what may be illegal discrimination forbidden by the Fair Housing Act? In some cases the discrimination may not even reach the borrowers themselves, as evidenced by a recent settlement announced by the HUD official site.
According to a October 2014 press release issued on the FHA/HUD official site, “The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has negotiated a Conciliation Agreement with Illinois-based Midland States Bancorp, resolving allegations that the bank avoided doing business in predominantly African American and Hispanic neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri and northern Illinois.”
Federal Fair Housing Act laws state that it is illegal to, “deny or discriminate in the terms and conditions of a mortgage or loan modification based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability” according to the press release.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates HUD’s ongoing commitment to addressing lending discrimination, no matter what form it takes,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Everyone, regardless of their race or national origin, should have equal access to banking services and HUD will continue to take appropriate action to end discriminatory practices.”
This settlement came after HUD investigated a complaint lodged by the St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC). According to the HUD press release, the complaint alleged, “that the bank delineated its service area in a discriminatory manner that excluded areas of high minority concentration, a practice known as redlining. EHOC’s complaint also alleged that the bank located branches in a manner that did not give equal access to customers based on race and national origin, and failed to market residential real estate loans in African American and Hispanic communities.”
We report these settlements and investigations as a reminder that the first line of defense against illegal discrimination is often the person or persons being discriminated against–filing a complaint with the FHA and HUD is the first and most important step a borrower should take in such cases.
File a complaint by contacting HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to www.hud.gov/fairhousing.
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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