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Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Mortgage Co. will pay more than $1.5 million into a fund as part of settling discrimination charges brought by the Department of Justice.
The mortgage company, which is indirectly owned by Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, engaged in a pattern of discrimination from August 2009 to May 2012 in lending against disabled applicants receiving public assistance, in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, according to court documents.
The federal agency said Thursday that the $1.5 million will be used to compensate eligible mortgage loan applicants who were asked to provide a doctor’s letter documenting income they received from Social Security disability insurance.
Under other terms of the settlement, the mortgage company agreed to maintain revised policies and train its employees, the Justice Department said.
A second defendant in the case, Clinton Township, Michigan-based Cranbrook Mortgage Corp., has revised its underwriting practices, will train its loan officers and will pay $2,000 to compensate loan applicants who filed the original complaint, the Justice Department said.
Cranbrook was not charged with discriminating against other loan applicants, the federal agency said.
“A person’s medical information is often some of the most personal information in and about their life,” Michael J. Moore, U.S. attorney general for the middle district of Georgia, said in a statement.
Fifth Third’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
“Cranbrook worked in good faith with the Justice Department to make sure it was not in violation of any laws, and is glad to have the matter resolved,” attorney Theresa L. Kitay, who is based in Marina del Rey, California, said.
An Illinois car dealership has been ordered to pay $100,000 to resolve a national origin and religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which it was charged with subjecting three Arab Muslim employees to a hostile work environment.