The U.S. Justice Department has announced a record-setting settlement with Bank of America over fair-lending practices.
The Justice Department said that Bank of America agreed to pay $335 millionin what Attorney General Eric Holder described as “the largest fair-lending settlement in the history of our nation.”
The Justice Department had alleged the bank's Countrywide Financial mortgage unit engaged in a pattern of discriminatory lending practices. Holder said in a news conference announcing the settlement that the Justice Department alleged Countrywide engaged in discrimination against more than 200,000 qualified black and Hispanic borrowers from 2004 through 2008.
The $335 million will be used to compensate the victims of the alleged discrimination.
The discriminatory acts allegedly include charging applicants higher interest rates solely because of their race, and steering applicants who qualified for prime loans into subprime loans.
A Bank of America representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
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