Racial bias

Methods to combat the discrimination include lender disclosures explaining the process, industry guidance around reconsiderations of value, uniform 3D property scans and more automated valuation models easier to audit than manual valuations.

SPCPs are posed as an equitable housing solution but hesitation and confusion about them is persistent in the mortgage industry, housing finance experts said.

The trade groups, including the American Bankers Association, allege the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau exceeded its authority by claiming discrimination in any financial product violates the federal prohibition on "unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices."

When voters in Oakland, Berkeley and South San Francisco receive ballots in the mail next month, they'll be asked whether their cities should be allowed to help build more desperately needed affordable housing.

The country's largest banks should deepen partnerships with minority depository institutions and community development financial institutions, and regulators should facilitate that process.

Financial downturns hit lower-wealth communities first and cause them to suffer the longest.

A contested home valuation was based on the professional's "racist beliefs" and eschewed industry standards with comparisons of properties away from the majority-white neighborhood, according to the lawsuit.

First introduced in 2020, the Fair Access to Financial Services Act would require banks to serve all customers in a manner similar to existing requirements for hotels and restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

California counties must now work to remove decades-old racist language in property records that once banned people of color from buying homes in neighborhoods across the state.

Congressional authorization for credit-preference programs in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act could mitigate disagreements that might arise from the equitable housing finance plans, write two partners at K&L Gates.

The conflicting analyses of automated valuation models highlight a challenge lenders could face in deciding whether to use them to determine racial disparities in home evaluations.

The bank in a new filing claims some litigants didn’t apply for the refinances at the center of the complaint.

A new study has found that Black and Hispanic borrowers are denied conventional mortgages at higher rates than white applicants and pay up to $2,000 more to refinance.

Equitable housing initiatives the government–sponsored enterprises detailed Wednesday will rely on mortgage company uptake of experimental underwriting strategies.

Secret test scenarios last year found a loan originator providing fewer options and services on multiple occasions to Black borrowers compared to white customers.

There is a gaping hole in the financial system in North Minneapolis, where people are preyed upon by payday lenders and fringe bankers, according to Debra Hurston, executive director of the Association for Black Economic Power. Hurston is creating a credit union for this community to help break residents out of a cycle of exploitation and debt. But the issue is far bigger than one city, and the opportunity is one that any bank or credit union can seize.

The pending budget reconciliation legislation should retain measures meant to support minority homebuyers writes the President of the National Association Of Real Estate Brokers.

The brokerage will eliminate its minimum housing price policy, which determines who can access its services, among other changes.

Allowing VantageScore to compete in the mainstream mortgage market may help to close the racial homeownership and financial wealth gap by increasing homeownership opportunities for underserved populations, writes the president and CEO of HomeFree-USA.