WASHINGTON—DiCello Levitt LLP, Ben Crump Law PLLC, and Liles Parker PLLC on Sunday filed a class action lawsuit against Navy Federal Credit Union over systemic discriminatory lending practices impacting millions of Black and Brown mortgage applicants nationwide. The lawsuit—which is in part based on a recent CNN study—alleges a striking disparity between mortgage approval rates of White borrowers vis-à-vis Black and Brown applicants.
“Despite Black and Latino borrowers showing comparable financial backgrounds as White applicants, only 48% of Black and only 56% of Latino mortgage applications were approved by Navy Federal Credit Union while applications by White borrowers were approved at a rate of 77%,” said Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann, DiCello Levitt’s Co-Chair, Mass Tort Division and Managing Partner, Birmingham office.
“Even among applicants showing similar variables relating to income and debt-to-income ratio, Black applicants were more than twice as likely to be denied a home loan as White applicants. Navy Federal Credit Union systemically prevented Black and Brown mortgage applicants to fulfill the American Dream by consistently following glaring practices of race discrimination,” Fu added.
The class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia details how the defendant consistently built roadblocks for Black and Brown mortgage applicants. Allegations include race discrimination in violation of The Fair Housing Act and violation of The Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Navy Federal Credit Union among the fifty largest mortgage lenders in the United States shows the largest disparity between home loan approvals for White and Black or Brown borrowers.
The case is: Oliver et al. v. Navy Federal Credit Union, No. 1:23-cv-01731 (D. Va.).
A copy of the complaint is available on request.
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