Today, Reuters released a report citing that M&T Bank has allegedly been steering customers of minority status to LMI loans and to non-white neighborhoods.
In defense of M&T Bank, I find the last charge to be ludicrous. Mortgage Loan Officers at M&T Bank or the Bank of What not could care less where someone buys a home. They care about writing a mortgage.... but that's what this report claims
Here's the link http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/03/mt-bnk-us-discrimination-lawsuit-idUSL1N0VD24M20150203
And here's the text:
M&T Bank accused in lawsuit of New York City lending bias
NEW YORK
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Feb 3 (Reuters) - M&T Bank Corp was sued on Tuesday by a nonprofit group that accused the large mid-Atlantic lender of discriminatory mortgage lending practices in New York City.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the Fair Housing Justice Center said M&T in 2013 and 2014 used racial criteria to steer prospective borrowers to particular neighborhoods, and to determine their eligibility for mortgages.
The advocacy group said it hired various women to portray themselves to M&T loan officers as first-time home buyers who were married and had no children.
Most of the "testers" who were not white were encouraged by the bank to apply for mortgages in its "Get Started" program, which helps people buy homes in lower-income neighborhoods or "majority minority" neighborhoods such as Harlem in Manhattan, or St. Albans in Queens.
In contrast, the Buffalo, New York-based lender discouraged white testers from using that program, encouraged them to move to majority-white areas such as Murray Hill in Manhattan, and told them they could afford larger loans and costlier homes than more qualified non-white testers, the complaint said.
One loan officer told a white tester about Get Started, only to then express doubt about buying "in an area where you're a min ... more minority than majority," the complaint added.
Fred Freiberg, executive director of the nonprofit, said in a statement that such activity "serves to reinforce patterns of residential racial segregation in New York City."
M&T spokesman Michael Zabel said the bank has a "deep commitment" to fair lending, as reflected by its top scores from federal regulators examining its practices, and a recent report on bank reinvestment in New York City from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, an advocacy group.
The lawsuit accuses M&T of violating the federal Fair Housing Act, and state and city human rights laws. It seeks to halt alleged discrimination, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. Nine testers were also named as plaintiffs.
M&T said it has more than 700 branches stretching from New York to Florida.
Its planned $3.7 billion purchase of Paramus, New Jersey-based Hudson City Bancorp Inc, which was announced in August 2012, has been repeatedly delayed by federal regulators to allow M&T to strengthen its money laundering controls.
The case is Fair Housing Justice Center Inc et al v. M&T Bank Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-00779. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Christian Plumb)
