Last week, the Attorney General announced that nearly 200,000 homeowners of African American or Latino descent would be entitled to partake in a $335,000 settlement from Countrywide Home Loans. Countrywide was sued for discriminatory lending practices, and the Attorney General stated that between 2004 and 2008, Countrywide was charging African-American and Latino homebuyers more fees and higher interest rates than similarly situated white applicants. In other words, if a white applicant and a black or Latino applicant had identical income and credit scores, the black or Latino applicant paid a higher interest rate and incurred greater closing costs than the white applicant. Countrywide was the largest mortgage lender in Illinois between 2004 and 2007. Once the settlement is approved by a judge, almost 15,000 Illinois homebuyers of African-American and Latino heritgage will be entitled to compensation from Countywide. How much compensation can they expect? According to the Illinois Attorney General, that depends on… read more →
