Mortgage company accused of lending discrimination in Miami-Dade reaches settlement

TALLAHASSEE – A mortgage company accused of lending discrimination in predominantly Black and Hispanic Miami-Dade neighborhoods has settled with the U.S. Department of Justice.

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The Mortgage Firm, Inc., which is based in Altamonte Springs, agreed to provide $1.75 million for a program to help with home purchases, refinancing and home-improvement loans in predominantly Black and Hispanic areas, according to a Justice Department news release concerning the settlement, which is also known as a consent order.

The company also agreed to take steps to improve its fair-lending training and staffing and expand outreach efforts.

The consent order, filed Tuesday in federal court, said the Justice Department alleged that the company “engaged in a pattern or practice of unlawful discrimination against applicants and prospective applicants on the basis of race and color, including by redlining majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and high-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Miami MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) and engaging in acts and practices directed at applicants and prospective applicants that would discourage, on a prohibited basis, a reasonable person from making or pursuing an application for credit.”

The consent order said the company “neither admits nor denies the allegations.”