Bank One, Bank of America in talks over suits alleging bias in auto loans

[True_Blue]

NEW YORK (AFX) - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co's Bank One unit and Bank of America Corp are both in talks with lawyers for black consumers who have brought class-action lawsuits charging the big banks with discriminatory auto-lending practices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Neither side has indicated that there is a settlement at hand, the newspaper said, noting that if one is reached it will mark the latest in a series of settlements by big financial institutions that could lead to savings for all car buyers.

Plaintiffs' lawyers are asking both banks to put tighter limits on the markups car dealers can charge above the interest rates set by the two banks, the Journal quoted people familiar with the situation as saying.

Suits against the banks allege that car dealers tend to "mark up" loans more frequently and aggressively with black borrowers than with white borrowers, and that the banks' policies enable the discrimination. Trials in the separate cases are expected later this year.

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http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&format=reformatted&articleid=5170546&action=article

[freeplessinseattle]

1. I'm inclined to believe it. my boyfriend sued them, and won recently

for false arrest. briefly, he tried to cash a check I gave him as a loan, the teller saw that there was an account with the same number in NC, and on some of my checks I put a dash instead of a slash when writing the date. the manager barely glanced at the screen, if he had bothered to look harder he would have figured out that the routing number was different as it possible for two same account numbers to exist in different states. My boyfriend has Spanish/Basque heritage and was even darker at the time, in August, he also has long hair, tattoos, and earrings. I wouldn't have thought discrimination except that the manager asked him IF HE WAS BORN IN THIS COUNTRY. can you believe it? It's not like it was a red alert amount either, only 1000, but they did totally jump the gun and ended up paying him 12,000 for tossing him in jail for 5 hours.

And having just read about how they ask sexual orientation on a recent employee survey, I am definitely changing my bank, the convenience is not worth it. I was waiting until after he got the settlement so it would look like I was going to continue to be loyal despite their inexcusable fuck-up (which happened at a different branch than mine, and the people there are nice, but maybe they should know what kind of place they work for)

[True_Blue]

2. I would love to see people close their accounts

and picket that lousy bank.