June 30, 2010
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide, a subsidiary of Bank of America, for unlawfully discriminating against African American and Latino borrowers in home mortgage sales, in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Illinois Fairness in Lending Act.
Countrywides illegal discriminatory lending practices destroyed the wealth and dreams of thousands of African American and Latino homeowners, Madigan said. Bank of America needs to be held accountable by taking financial responsibility for cleaning up the devastation of the predatory company that it chose to take over.
Madigans complaint alleges that the former mortgage giant steered African American and Latino borrowers into risky subprime mortgages more often than similarly-situated white borrowers. The complaint also alleges that minority borrowers paid more for mortgages across Countrywides product line, including its prime loans.
Significantly, Madigans analysis of Countrywide loan data found that the racial disparities could not be explained by objective factors, such as borrowers credit scores or debt-to-income ratios.
At the height of the housing bubble, Countrywide was the largest mortgage lender in the country and in Illinois. Countrywide was also the states top seller of subprime loans. Bank of America bought Countrywide in 2008.
The failure of millions of higher-cost, or subprime, mortgages nationwide is largely responsible for triggering the ongoing foreclosure crisis and resulting economic recession.
Madigans lawsuit is the result of a two-year investigation of Countrywides lending policies and practices that were in place during the years directly preceding the collapse of the housing market. The Attorney General issued a fair lending subpoena to Countrywide in March 2008, after a Chicago Reporter study of federally collected mortgage lending data for the Chicago area found that, in 2006, Countrywide Financial Corporation sold higher-cost loans to 50.9 percent of its African American borrowers and 33.8 percent of its Latino borrowers, while only 19.5 percent of the companys white borrowers received high-cost loans.
The Attorney General's investigation included a statistical analysis of data from over 83,000 Countrywide mortgages originated in Illinois from 2005 through 2007. Madigans office also interviewed former Countrywide employees and mortgage brokers, and spoke with Countrywide borrowers about their home loans.
Bad odds
As outlined in the complaint, Madigans analysis of Countrywides loan data found that the odds that African American and Latino borrowers would receive a higher-cost subprime mortgage from Countrywide were three times greater than those of white borrowers. In addition, Madigans investigation found that Countrywide charged African American and Latino borrowers higher interest rates and fees on loans spanning the companys range of products, including its prime products, as compared with similarly-situated white borrowers.Madigans investigation further found that the disparities in Countrywides subprime sales and loan pricing were the result of Countrywide policies that gave employees and mortgage brokers almost unlimited discretion in the selection and pricing of loans.
Its disturbingly clear that if you were an African American or Latino borrower who walked into a Countrywide store, you likely paid more for your mortgage than a white borrower, Madigan said. Countrywide effectively imposed a surcharge on mortgage loans based on race and ethnicity.
The Attorney Generals lawsuit asks the court to find that Countrywide engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination, enter an injunction against Countrywide to permanently prohibit the company from discriminatory acts as described in the complaint, make restitution to all victims of Countrywides discrimination, pay civil penalties of $25,000 for each violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act, and order any other relief that the court deems equitable.
The filing is the second lawsuit Madigan has brought against Countrywide. In 2008, she filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against the lender for its major role in driving the foreclosure crisis, and in November 2008, she led negotiations that resulted in an $8.7 billion settlement of that lawsuit with Bank of America.
It is also the second fair lending lawsuit Madigan has brought against a major mortgage lender. In July 2009, Madigan filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo for violating the states fair lending and civil rights laws, becoming the first state attorney general in the nation to sue a federally-chartered lender for its role in creating the foreclosure crisis. The Wells Fargo litigation is ongoing.
Steered minority borrowers
Specifically, Madigans complaint alleges that Countrywides retail employees and mortgage brokers had the discretion to choose the type of products offered to borrowers and to manipulate borrowers financial information that was entered into the companys automated underwriting system. As a result of this discretion, the complaint alleges, minority borrowers were steered into subprime mortgages when they qualified for prime loans.
The Attorney General further alleges that Countrywide failed to institute an adequate system for automatically referring eligible borrowers from subprime to prime. Although the company added an Uplift protocol to its underwriting system in 2002 to supposedly prevent prime-eligible borrowers from being placed into subprime loans, Madigan alleges that the Uplift program failed as a safeguard because it depended on a combination of automated underwriting and human discretion. When interviewed by Madigans office, former Countrywide employees and brokers reported that they had rarely or never seen subprime loans uplifted to prime.
Minority borrowers paid more
Madigans complaint alleges similar abuses of discretion in the pricing of Countrywides loans. As outlined in the lawsuit, Countrywide provided employees and brokers with rate sheets that spelled out the mortgage interest rates borrowers qualified for, based on certain credit factors. However, Madigan found that Countrywide gave employees and brokers discretion to sell borrowers loans with higher interest rates than those indicated by the rate sheets.
The complaint also alleges that Countrywides broad discretionary pricing policies allowed employees and brokers to use a number of devices to increase the interest rates on loans. These included manipulating the amount of cash a borrower took out on a refinance, which would increase the loan-to-value ratio, and adding features to the loan such as a prepayment penalty or an adjustable interest rate.
