Countywide Sued For Racial Profiling

The state of Illinois is suing former mortgage Goliath Countrywide Financial for allegedly using discriminatory lending practices for minority applicants.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said an investigation revealed that African-American and Latino borrowers were much more likely to be given risky subprime loans by the lender than similarly situated whites from 2005 to 2007.

The lawsuit also alleged that a statistical analysis revealed that the company charged Latino and African-American borrowers more interest and fees on certain mortgages than whites.

Countrywide, which was the largest mortgage lender in Illinois from 2004 to 2006, is now a subsidiary of Bank of America.

In a statement, Bank of America Corp. said it was "disappointed" with the attorney general's decision to sue over practices that preceded its taking ownership of the company in 2008.

"We have fully cooperated with their investigation and have pointed out significant flaws in the methodology which we believe has been used as the basis for these claims," the bank said in a statement.

The lawsuit estimates that the company's practices caused about 6,000 African-American and Latino borrowers to be steered into subprime mortgages and in some cases charged higher prices for their mortgages. Overall, the attorney general's office found that African-American and Latino borrowers were three times more likely than white borrowers to receive a higher-cost subprime mortgage.

In 2008, Illinois, California and at least six other states reached an $8.8 billion settlement with Countrywide stemming from a lawsuit claiming the company and its executives defrauded borrowers.