As CRA Rule
Launched by Fed Ameris Pre DOJ Deal Was
Protested But Merger Rubber Stamped
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.
***
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