Complaint formsĪnd instructions may be obtained from the department’s website at. Consumers wishing to file a complaintĪgainst a mortgage banker or licensed residential mortgage loan originator should complete and send a complaint form to the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending, 2061 North Lamar, Ste 101, Austin, TX 78705. The Wood Group of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation is licensed under the laws of the State of Texas and is subject to regulatory oversight by the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending. Texas Consumer Complaint and Recovery Fund Notice (View or Print) Instead of “familial status,” it covers “marital status.” A lender would not be able to refuse to lend money to unmarried women, to name one example from not-so-distant history. It does not include disability, but it does prohibit discrimination based on age, provided that a borrower is old enough to enter into a contract. Its coverage is slightly different from the Fair Housing Act. The federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 also addresses discrimination in lending. The Texas Fair Housing Act, passed by the Texas Legislature in 1993, covers all of the same protected groups except disability. single or married, with or without children, etc. As amended, the Fair Housing Act prohibits lenders from discriminating against borrowers on the basis of:įamilial status, e.g. This law is the source of the FDIC regulations described above. The law did not specifically include lending, however, until Congress passed the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.
Title VIII of the statute, also known as the Fair Housing Act, deals with housing discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 addresses multiple forms of discrimination. It took another 98 years for Congress to pass a law with teeth. A landlord who refused to rent to someone based on race violated the law but did not face appropriate consequences. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race in housing and employment, but it did not provide any suitable penalties for violations. If it turns out that this has a disparate impact on borrowers of one particular race, nationality, etc., and the lender cannot provide a compelling business reason for the higher credit score requirement, the policy could be unlawful.Ī Brief History of How Equal Housing Came to BeĬongress first enacted legal protections against housing discrimination shortly after the Civil War. An example might involve a lender that requires a higher credit score than the industry standard. This practice continued into the 1960s.ĭisparate impact: A policy or practice that appears neutral can still be discriminatory if it (1) has a disproportionate impact on members of protected groups and (2) has no business justification. The “redlined” areas were often neighborhoods where the majority of the population was Black. government in the 1930s used red borders or shading to indicate areas deemed too risky for mortgage loans. The term originally referred to the refusal by banks to make mortgage loans for homes in certain areas. Redlining is a major example of this type of discrimination. Overt discrimination: Open, intentional discrimination, such as flatly stating that a bank will not lend to people of a certain race or nationality.ĭisparate treatment: This can be more subtle, but no less harmful. Defining Discrimination in the Mortgage Lending Spaceĭiscrimination can take numerous forms that fall into three broad groups:
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