{"id":3151,"date":"2022-08-14T11:16:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T11:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=3151"},"modified":"2022-08-14T11:16:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T11:16:44","slug":"non-bank-lender-trident-mortgage-to-pay-over-22m-for-redlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=3151","title":{"rendered":"Non-Bank Lender Trident Mortgage to Pay Over $22M for Redlining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/charlene-crowell-special-to-the-informer\/\">Charlene Crowell, Special to The Informer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A four-year investigation begun by Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general attracted the support and resources of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to bring the first-ever redlining enforcement involving a non-bank lender. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 27, Trident Mortgage Company was ordered to pay over $22 million for discriminatory lending patterns in majority-minority neighborhoods throughout the greater metropolitan Philadelphia region, including Camden, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware. The enforcement now goes before a federal court for approval of the second largest redlining settlement in the history of the Justice Department. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis settlement is a stark reminder that redlining is not a problem from a bygone era. Trident\u2019s unlawful redlining activity denied communities of color equal access to residential mortgages, stripped them of the opportunity to build wealth and devalued properties in their neighborhoods,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-and-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-secure-agreement-trident-mortgage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>&nbsp;Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division. \u201cAlong with our federal and state law enforcement partners, we are sending a powerful message to lenders that they will be held accountable when they run afoul of our fair lending laws.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until it stopped accepting mortgage loan applications in 2021, Trident operated as a non-depository mortgage company in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, marketing and selling both first mortgage loans and refinancing home loans. From 2015 to 2017, an estimated 80% of Trident\u2019s mortgage applications came from the Philadelphia Metropolitan Statistical Area (referred to as the Philadelphia MSA) which includes the cities of Philadelphia, Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., as well as Cecil County, Md. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the complaint, Trident\u2019s application data revealed only 12% of its mortgage loan applications came from majority-minority neighborhoods \u2013 even though more than a quarter of neighborhoods in the Philadelphia MSA are majority-minority. Of the mortgage loan applications Trident did receive from applicants in majority-minority neighborhoods, most of the applicants were white. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Act, and the Fair Housing Act, the government\u2019s investigation uncovered a wide range of problematic conduct by Trident. Representative examples of that behavior include: &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Trident\u2019s loan officers, assistants, and other employees received and distributed emails containing racial slurs and racist content. In addition to using racist tropes and terms, communications sent on work emails included pejorative content specifically related to real estate properties\u2019 locations and appraisals. The racist content also targeted the people living in majority-minority neighborhoods;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Of Trident\u2019s 53 different offices across the Philadelphia MSA, 51 were in majority-white neighborhoods. The other two offices were in neighborhoods with minority groups representing roughly half of the population; and &nbsp;<\/li><li>A series of Trident\u2019s direct mail marketing campaigns between 2015 through 2018 depicted only white models and employees and only in majority-white neighborhoods. &nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCompanies that use their power to discriminate and rob individuals of opportunity based on the racial makeup of their neighborhoods is not only unacceptable, it is illegal,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.attorneygeneral.gov\/taking-action\/ag-shapiro-announces-major-settlement-with-former-top-mortgage-lender-over-allegations-of-redlining\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>&nbsp;Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. \u201cThrough our investigation, we allege that hardworking Pennsylvanians were denied the chance at the American dream simply because of where they live, which unfortunately in America is inextricably tied to who they are.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To remedy these offenses and other lending ills noted in the investigation, Trident, once approved by the federal court, would make multiple financial resources available to assist prospective mortgage applicants: $18.4 million loan subsidy program that would operate in four offices in majority-minority neighborhoods, a $4 million fine payable to CFPB\u2019s victim relief fund, and a $2 million advertising fund to generate mortgage applications in redlined areas. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although significant punitive actions can deter some financial institutions from violating fair lending laws, an even greater concern underlies these recent developments. For several years, mortgage lending has shifted away from major banks and towards non-bank mortgage firms like Trident. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the most recent analysis of the annual report on the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and analyzed by BankRate.com, only three of 2021\u2019s largest mortgage lenders by volume were banks. The largest bank lender last year was Wells Fargo, whose 376,000 loans totaled $141 billion. The other two banks appearing in the top 10 were JP Morgan Chase ($112 billion) and Bank of America ($84 billion). &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By contrast, 2021\u2019s two top mortgage lenders by volume were Rocket Mortgage leading the list with $340 billion loaned to finance 1.2 million originations and United Wholesale Mortgage\u2019s $227 billion that financed 654,000 loans. Further, these totals represent lending increases above totals recorded the previous year. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis has been the general trend since the financial crisis,\u201d said Greg McBride, Bankrate\u2019s chief financial analyst. \u201cBanks have backed off of \u2014 but not eliminated \u2014 originations. Non-banks more than filled the void as the market picked up, and the big banks often buy the servicing rights so they\u2019re in the game with less risk and cyclicality on the origination side.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would be na\u00efve to shift fair lending and housing enforcement to a single financial category. Instead, it behooves consumers, regulators, and advocates to all be mindful of the many forms and sources of illegal discrimination. Banks, non-banks, and all lenders must be held accountable \u2013 whenever and wherever illegal lending occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/non-bank-lender-trident-mortgage-to-pay-over-22m-for-redlining\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Washington Informer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By \u00a0Charlene Crowell, Special to The Informer A four-year investigation begun by Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general attracted the support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[66,81],"class_list":["post-3151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regular-column","tag-african-american","tag-black-affordable-housing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3153,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions\/3153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}