bank Denies violation of fair lending laws It said it hopes to avoid litigation by agreeing to the agreement, which does not include civil penalties.
Here’s the latest settlement for the practice called red linethe Biden administration is addressing this issue with a new solution task force The largest such agreement in the department’s history was reached earlier this year.
Between 2016 and 2021, Atlanta-based Ameris Bank’s home loans were concentrated in white areas of Jacksonville, while other banks approved loans at rates three times Ameris’, the government said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the bank has never opened branches in majority-black and Hispanic neighborhoods and that in a third of those areas it has not received any applications in six years , although other banks received applications.
“Redlining has a significant impact on the health and wealth of these communities. Homeownership has been one of the most effective ways for Americans to build wealth in our country. When families cannot obtain credit to own a home, they lose the opportunity to share in this country’s prosperity ,” Garland said at a news conference in Jacksonville announcing the settlement.
“We strongly disagree with any suggestion that we have engaged in discriminatory behavior,” Palmer Proctor, chief executive of Ameris Bank, which federal officials say has nearly $25 billion in USD assets and operates in nine states in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.” Proctor said the bank cooperated with the investigation and reached the agreement in part because “we share the department’s goal of expanding access to underserved areas. Homeownership.”
Garland has prioritized civil rights prosecutions since taking office as attorney general in 2021, and this administration is taking redline cases more seriously than before. Anti-redlining efforts have now secured $107 million in relief, including the Ameris settlement, which must be approved by a judge.
$31 million settlement January’s partnership with Los Angeles-based City National is the division’s largest.
The practice of redlining continues across the country, and despite half a century of laws aimed at combating the phenomenon, its long-term effects are still being felt today. Homes in historically redlined neighborhoods are still worth less than homes elsewhere, and the average black household has a fraction of the net worth of a typical white household.
Roger Handberg, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said Amerys’ case is the first the department has filed in Florida. “For too long, redlining has had a negative impact on communities of color in our country,” he said.
Assistant Attorney General Christine Clark said combating redlining “is one of the most important strategies today to ensure equal economic opportunity.”
Ameris Bank will invest $7.5 million in a loan subsidy fund made available to people in predominantly minority communities under the settlement and spend a total of $1.5 million on outreach and community partnerships, as well as A new branch opens in these communities, among other services. requirements as part of a settlement.
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Associated Press writer Ken Sweet in New York contributed to this report.
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