"L.A. sues JPMorgan Chase, alleges predatory home loans to minorities"

L.A. sues JPMorgan Chase, alleges predatory home loans to minorities

By Andrew Khouri at the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-re-jpmorgan-mortgage-lawsuit-20140530-story.html

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The city of Los Angeles accused JPMorgan Chase & Co. of steering minority borrowers into risky home loans they couldn’t afford, triggering a foreclosure wave that hammered property values and city coffers..

In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court, the Los Angeles city attorney alleged the nation's largest bank “has engaged in a continuous pattern and practice of mortgage discrimination in Los Angeles since at least 2004 by imposing different terms or conditions on a discriminatory and legally prohibited basis."

The lawsuit is the latest in a city attempt to collect unspecified damages based on hits to city revenue from alleged discriminatory lending. That lending, the city alleged, caused a foreclosure flood that reduced property tax revenue, as well as increased costs for city services on those properties.

“L.A. continues to suffer from the foreclosure crisis -- from blight in our neighborhoods to diminished revenue for basic City services," L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. "We're fighting to hold those we allege are responsible to account and to help bring back every community in our City."


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