Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and United States v. Trident Mortgage Company (E.D. Pa.)

On July 27, 2022, the United States and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a joint complaint and a proposed consent order in Trident Mortgage Company, Inc. (E.D. Pa.).  The complaint alleges that Trident Mortgage Company (Trident), which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Fair Housing Act (FHA), and Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), by engaging in unlawful redlining in the Philadelphia metropolitan area by avoiding providing credit services to neighborhoods of color because of the race, color, and national origin of the people living in those neighborhoods.  The complaint also alleges that Trident’s loan officers and other employees sent and received work e-mails containing racial slurs and referring to communities of color as “ghetto.”  The consent order, requires the defendant to invest at least $18.4 million in a loan subsidy fund for residents of predominantly neighborhoods of color in the Philadelphia metropolitan area; invest $750,000 for development of community partnerships to provide services that increase access to residential mortgage credit in those neighborhoods; invest $875,000 for advertising and outreach in those neighborhoods; and invest $375,000 for consumer financial education.  Trident will also pay a civil money penalty of $4 million.

Press Release (7/27/2022)