When it comes to the legal theory of disparate impact and the Supreme Court of the United States, perhaps the third time around will be the charm. Recently, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs requested the nation’s highest court to agree once again to take on the issue of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act. The questions presented to the high court in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., Petitioners v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. are...

There has been a resurgence of city lawsuits lately against major banks seeking to recover lost property tax revenues, which city officials say were needed to pay for expensive foreclosure-related city services. The latest in these lawsuits was filed by the City of Los Angeles against JPMorgan Chase alleging discriminatory mortgage lending led to a wave of foreclosures that continues to diminish revenue for basic city services. The new litigation against Chase comes...

ITT Educational Services, the target in the CFPB’s first enforcement action against a for-profit education company over allegations of predatory lending, has asked a court to throw out the bureau’s complaint, arguing that the CFPB’s lawsuit is unconstitutional on two key grounds. In its brief in support of its motion to dismiss, filed late last month before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, ITT argues that the CFPB is an unconstitutional entity, first, because it has “no presidential oversight” and because there is “no Congressional control of funding” of the agency.Attorney John Culhane, a partner in the Philadelphia office of the Ballard Spahr law firm, pointed out in a client note about the...

The CFPB has released its 2014 Fair Lending Report to Congress but apparently left a few gaping holes when it comes to specifically answering some questions various lawmakers of both major parties have raised with bureau personnel, if industry attorneys are correct in their assessment. In the report, the bureau describes how it works to ensure that consumers have fair, equitable and nondiscriminatory access to credit by its use of research, supervision, enforcement, consumer education and outreach, rulemaking and interagency engagement. Among the tools the CFPB highlighted since the last such report to Congress was its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Database, which enables the public to study trends in the mortgage market. Going forward, “The CFPB will maintain a sharp...

AAG, NCRC Announces Fair Lending Partnership in Reverse Mortgages. American Advisors Group, ranked first among the nation’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lenders in 2013 by Inside FHA Lending, has collaborated with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to ensure fair lending to older borrowers. Through this partnership, AAG employees will complete an NCRC fair housing training course. In addition, the AAG will consult with NCRC to develop best practices for complying with the Fair Housing Act. An umbrella group of more than 600 community-based organizations, the NCRC will also serve as an adviser to AAG in providing HECM mortgages to qualified borrowers age 62 or older. AAG Chief Executive Officer Reza Jahangiri said the partnership is a huge step toward the promotion of fair lending practices and responsible lending. AAG was the top HECM lender in 2013 with $1.4 billion in total originations representing ...