CFPB and DOJ act against Fairway for redlining in Birmingham

The CFPB has reported that the Bureau and the Justice Department (DOJ) yesterday took action to end Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation’s illegal mortgage lending discrimination against majority-Black neighborhoods in the greater Birmingham, Alabama, area. The CFPB and DOJ allege that Fairway illegally redlined Black neighborhoods, including through its marketing and sales actions. Fairway’s actions discouraged people from applying for mortgage loans in the Birmingham metropolitan area’s Black neighborhoods. If entered by the court, the settlement announced yesterday would require Fairway to pay a $1.9 million civil penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund. Fairway would also be required to provide $7 million for a loan subsidy program to offer affordable home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans in majority-Black neighborhoods, and pay at least $1 million to serve neighborhoods it redlined.