By Matthew R. Lee, Patreon
NEW YORK, Oct 24 – Will the Federal Reserve (and OCC and FDIC) actually strengthen Community Reinvestment Act enforcement, as they today belatedly release the rule? Well, the bank with the worst record in the United States for gouging consumers with overdraft fees, Ameris, nevertheless got a rubber stamp approval from the Fed, to buy Hamilton State Bancshares in Georgia. Now this month it has settled discrimination charges with DOJ. Tellingly, the Fed could or would not see the discrimination.
In October 2023, "The resolution with Ameris Bank was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, along with the Department’s complaint, and is subject to court approval. The Department’s complaint alleges that, from 2016 through 2021, Ameris Bank avoided providing mortgage services to majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Jacksonville and discouraged people seeking credit in those communities from obtaining home loans." Here's what we said:
From Fair Finance Watch's (and Inner City Press') filings with the Fed: "Fair Finance Watch has reviewed Ameris' lending in 2016, the most recent year for which Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data [wa]s available, in both the Atlanta and the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and finds both to be disparate.. In the Jacksonville MSA in 2016 for home purchase loans, Ameris denied the applications of African Americans 2.69 times more frequently than those of whites. Ameris made 203 such loans to whites and only SEVEN to African Americans. In the Jacksonville MSA in 2016 for home improvements loans, Ameris made five such loans to whites and none to African Americans or Latinos. In the Jacksonville MSA in 2016 for refinance loans, Ameris denied the applications of African Americans 2.2 times more frequently than those of whites. Ameris made 100 such loans to whites and only FOUR to African Americans. This is disparate.
Now DOJ belatedly agrees. And the Fed, even as it releases a new CRA regulation? Watch this site.
