BofA’s Countrywide to pay $335 million over bias case

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp’s Countrywide Financial unit agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $335 million to settle civil charges that it discriminated against minority homebuyers, a historic settlement for the Obama administration in the wake of the subprime mortgage morass.

As the financial crisis was building in 2008, Bank of America bought Countrywide, which specialized in so-called subprime mortgages, focusing on loans to those with lower credit ratings and charging them higher interest rates.

The settlement covers conduct between 2004 and 2008 before the acquisition by Bank of America, and involves a range of alleged wrongdoing including charging African-Americans and Hispanics higher interest rates and fees and steering some to more expensive subprime mortgages.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/21/bofas-countrywide-to-pay-335-million-over-bias-case/

[Enrique]

1. gee I wonder why minorities are so far behind whites economically?

it must be their "culture", and their "values", it must be because of the music they listen to and because they give their kids African names and because the boys wear their pants low.

[sarcasmo]

2. Stock price jumps to 5.21

I was sending fail vibes Bank of America's way and they are not working. Sending mega fail vibes to Bank of America.

[onethatcares]

3. like that fine is going to stop anything.

it's the cost of doing business. If it was 335 hundred million, then I might think someone would get the message.

but when they make a billion off a product they push and have to pay out a pittance, nothing changes, it only goes

underground a little further.

Have you ever tried to tell a judge you would "settle" a traffic fine for 1/10th of the set cost? What did he say?

[elehhhhna]

4. That's 1700 bucks per loan (35MM/200K). Psssst: :WE GOT FUCKED OVER AGAIN.

And the scammed minorities get , oh yeah, nothing.