WASHINGTON—DiCello Levitt LLP, Ben Crump PLLC, and Tycko & Zavareei LLP this week filed their consolidated class action complaint against Navy Federal Credit Union, alleging systemic discriminatory lending practices detrimentally affecting thousands of non-White mortgage applicants nationwide.
According to the lawsuit, In re: Navy Federal Mortgage Discrimination Litigation, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Navy Federal—a credit union founded in 1933 on the principles of supporting members of all branches of the U.S. military and their families—systemically and intentionally discriminated against non-White borrowers with military backgrounds, thereby harming thousands of Armed Services members, former military members, and their families.
As detailed in Navy Federal’s own data, in 2022, the credit union denied home loan applications by African Americans at a rate of 52%, rejected Latino borrowers at a rate of 44%, and Native American applicants at a rate of 36%. By contrast, only 23% of White mortgage applicants were denied.
These disparities remained even when taking into account a host of different variables, including income, debt-to-income ratio, loan amount, and property value. In addition, Navy Federal allegedly applied more expensive price structures for mortgages granted to non-White borrowers than to White applicants.
“Navy Federal systemically and wrongfully deprived Black, Latino, and Native American mortgage applicants across the United States of achieving homeownership, a cornerstone of the American Dream. What’s even more shameful is that the nation’s largest credit union with $165 billion in assets, which prides itself in assisting military service members and their families, discriminated against minority borrowers with armed services backgrounds,” said DiCello Levitt Founding Partner Adam J. Levitt.
The case is: In re: Navy Federal Mortgage Discrimination Litigation, Case No. 1:23-cv-01731-LMB-WEF (D.Va)
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