The NAACP Filed an Historic Lawsuit Against Mortgage Lenders Alleging Racial Discrimination
THE ACTION WE NEED YOU TO TAKE:
THE FACTS:
- On July 11 the NAACP filed a Federal class action lawsuit against fourteen of the country’s largest subprime mortgage lenders.
- This lawsuit is designed to bring about equitable lending practices that do not adversely affect borrowers based on their race.
- In a 2006 study, the Center for Responsible Lending found that when creditworthiness and credit risk were equal, African-Americans were still 31 percent to 34 percent more likely to receive higher rate, more expensive subprime loans than Caucasians.
- The National Community Reinvestment Coalition revealed that lenders on average made high-cost subprime loans to higher-qualified African-Americans 54% of the time, compared to 23% of the time for Caucasians, even when the Caucasian applicants were less qualified.
- These and other studies demonstrate that African-American homeowners are paying higher mortgage interest rates than their Caucasian counterparts.
The Lenders: Ameriquest, Fremont, Option One, WMC Mortgage, Long Beach Mortgage, BNC Mortgage, Accredited Home Lenders, Encore, First Franklin, HSBC, Washington Mutual
COPY OF THE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT (pdf 80kb)
