Redlining

As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, Patriot Bank must invest more than $1 million of the total in a loan subsidy fund for minority homeowners and take other corrective steps in its everyday business. The bank denied any wrongdoing.

The racially targeted mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022 has renewed conversations about whether banks have a duty to help segregated, impoverished communities that were shaped in part by discriminatory lending practices. What do banks owe the Black community, and what influence could they have?

Prosecutors claim every dollar in subsidy funds from settlements equates to ten times the amount in value in home lending efforts.

Trustmark Bank agreed to pay $9 million to resolve allegations that it discriminated against Black and Hispanic residents in Memphis, Tennessee. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice and other agencies will continue their crackdown.

Six online lenders and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition have asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for clarity on whether disparate-impact rules apply to lending decisions made by machines.

The agency sought feedback on potential changes to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. But a coalition of industry and advocacy groups want a longer comment period to afford “a greater opportunity for thoughtful public participation.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed an overhaul of an Obama-era rule meant to guide local jurisdictions in how they comply with the Fair Housing Act.

The little-known unit was launched in the wake of efforts by the CFPB and HUD to cut back on fair-lending activities, but the reach of the 10-month-old office is still unclear.

The agency wants more information as it conducts fair-lending exams, but conflicting statutes make writing a data collection rule difficult.

Courts have validated the legal theory behind punishing lenders for unintentional discrimination, but the Trump administration has shown interest in revising the Obama-era policy.