Brown: Congress Should not Make It Easier for Banks to
Discriminate Against Homebuyers
Bill to Roll Back Dodd-Frank Protections Would Exempt 85% of
Banks from Reporting Data the Exposes Discrimination
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs –
released the following statement in response to a report by
The Center for Investigative Reporting that showed banks are
continually shutting the door on homeownership for people of
color through modern-day redlining. Redlining is the
practice of refusing to loan to people who live in certain
geographic areas.
Senate Bill 2155, legislation to roll back Dodd-Frank Wall
Street protections, which recently passed the Banking
Committee would exempt 85 percent of banks from reporting
the kind of data that made today’s report possible.
“The 2008 financial crisis wiped out half the wealth of
Black and Latino families, and unfair lending practices like
redlining continue to increase wealth inequality,” said
Brown. “Congress should be working to make it easier for
families to own homes and grow their wealth, not passing
legislation that makes it easier for banks to prey on them.”
Senate Bill 2155, which Brown opposes, rolls back a number
of the mortgage rules put in place after the crisis to
protect Americans from abusive lending practices. S. 2155
would eliminate new reporting requirements of mortgage data
that banks already collect. The data is used by the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau, state attorneys general and
others to identify unfair lending trends and help prevent
banks from discriminating against people of color. The bill
also allows some banks to sell customers adjustable rate
mortgages without assuming any responsibility for whether
the customer can afford their payments once the initial rate
increases. |