Submitted by Fox First at Ten on September 13th
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California bank has agreed to invest $2 million to help people get credit and mortgages in lower-income communities to settle Justice Department allegations of discriminatory lending.
A Department of Justice statement Wednesday said from 2006 to 2011 Luther Burbank Savings, which is based in Santa Rosa with branches around the state, would loan no less than $400,000 for single-family residential mortgages.
Prosecutors say that minimum had a disproportionate impact based on race and nationalality.
The Justice Statement says when the policy was in place, less than 6 percent of the bank's loans went to black and Hispanic borrowers, compared to an average of more than 30 percent for comparable lenders.
Luther Burbank has since changed its minimum to $20,000.
An after-hours call to bank representatives was not immediately returned.
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