Bank of America, appraiser sued for discrimination

A homeowner is suing Bank of America and an appraisal firm for racial discrimination, the latest appraisal bias lawsuit against a major lender. 

Darchelle Braxton, a Black woman, sued the businesses last week in federal court for violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in handling her mortgage application last year. The lawsuit describes Braxton's "humiliating" experience with the bank and its loan officers, and a purportedly lowball appraisal by a professional with Velox Valuations. 

The homeowner says she obtained a higher valuation for her investment property in a second appraisal, and obtained the loan she'd sought with minimal hassle from a nonbank lender in stark contrast to her earlier experience. 

Braxton's alleged ordeal is similar to that of other minority homeowners who have sued real estate companies for biased appraisals this decade. It's also a rare, if not the first, biased appraisal suit to emerge during the Trump administration, which has dismantled federal efforts to root out racial bias in the property reviews. 

Neither an attorney for Braxton nor spokespersons for the bank responded to requests for comment Tuesday, while the appraiser named as an individual defendant told National Mortgage News he was not aware of the lawsuit. 

Doomed application, low appraisal

According to the suit, Braxton began working with Bank of America earlier last year, seeking a $100,000 loan with an interest rate of 6.2% for her Richmond-based property. Although she had a strong equity position and creditworthiness, Braxton said she endured a "demeaning" process with the lender, as she experienced unprofessional treatment compared to other customers of different races and genders. 

The homeowner worked with four different loan officers who ignored her correspondence, or repeatedly asked her to resubmit her application. Allegedly, one LO walked out of a branch to avoid interacting with the visiting Braxton, while another LO made an implicit threat to steal her sensitive financial information. 

The bank tapped David Boyd of Velox Valuations to perform an appraisal, and his review last September found a $135,000 value for Braxton's home. The plaintiff claims the appraisal's errors spanned from an incorrect zip code for a different state; fewer comparison properties than a subsequent review; and ignoring her rental income data. 

"The appraiser did not like the idea that a black woman owned the home being rented by a white tenant," the complaint read, explaining that the appraiser had interacted with Braxton and her investment property's tenant. 

Bank of America later denied Braxton's mortgage application, based on the low appraisal and on disputes regarding her auto loan and tax payments, of which the plaintiff didn't reveal financial details. Braxton says she later got an appraisal on her property for $208,000, and obtained a $105,000 loan from Guild Mortgage at a 6.5% interest rate. 

Appraisal suits have mixed success

Summons were issued Monday to Bank of America and the appraisers.

Plaintiffs in similar cases have reached settlement agreements with lenders, while no such case in recent years has reached a jury trial. A Black couple who sued Loandepot and an appraiser for racial bias in 2022 settled with the lender, but a judge tossed their accusations against the appraiser.

A mixed race couple who sued U.S. Bank and an Ohio appraiser in 2024 after a whitewashed appraisal was significantly higher than their first review also settled their case last year, according to court records.

The Trump administration last year disbanded a federal task force created to address appraisal bias, describing the effort as "wokeism" and part of unnecessary regulatory hurdles on the industry. The Biden administration in 2024 claimed that its regulatory efforts had helped close the appraisal gap between white and Black homes by 40%.