Bank of America will shell out million of dollars to hundreds of thousands of Americans that were scammed during the height of the housing market boom.
The Department of Justice said Wednesday that BofA has agreed to pay $335 million to at least 200,000 African American and Latino borrowers that Countywide Financial steered toward high interest rate loans, even though they qualified for lower-cost mortgages.
“Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for Justice’s civil rights division, said most of the victims of the discrimination were not aware that they were improperly steered to the riskier mortgages.
“They were thrilled to have gotten the loan and to have realized the American dream,” Perez said. “They had no idea they could have and should have gotten a better deal. This is discrimination with a smile.”
BofA said that the unfair lending practices occurred at Countrywide before the bank was purchased by Bank of America.
