Department of Justice, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency Announce New Initiatives to Combat Redlining

By: Steve Shepherd, CRCM

On October 22nd, 2021, the Justice Department announced new initiatives to help combat redlining.  The new initiatives will be led by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  According to the press release, the actions will:

• Utilize U.S. Attorneys’ Offices as force multipliers to ensure that fair lending enforcement is informed by local expertise on housing markets and the credit needs of local communities of color.
• Expand the department’s analyses of potential redlining to both depository and non-depository institutions. Non-depository lenders are not traditional banks and do not provide typical banking services but engage in mortgage lending and now make the majority of mortgages in this country. 
• Strengthen their partnership with financial regulatory agencies to ensure the identification and referrals of fair lending violations to the Department of Justice.
• Increase coordination with State Attorneys General on potential fair lending violations.

The following link provides more information: 
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-new-initiative-combat-redlining