WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations that it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans.
The bank denied violating fair lending laws and said it wanted to avoid litigation by agreeing to the deal, which does not include civil monetary penalties.
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This is the latest settlement over a practice known as redlining, which the Biden administration is tackling through a new task force that earlier this year reached the largest agreement of its kind in the department’s history.
Between 2016 and 2021, the Atlanta-based Ameris Bank’s home lending was focused disproportionately on mostly White areas of Jacksonville while other banks approved loans at three times the rate Ameris did, the government said.
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