November 20, 2015
The FHA/HUD official site has issued a press release announcing an agreement in a Michigan housing discrimination case. According to HUDNo.15-147, a “concilliation agreement” has been reached between the government and Mortgage One, Inc., of Sterling Heights, Michigan, “resolving allegations of lending discrimination againstan applicant with disabilities.”
According to the press release, HUD claimed Mortgage One and a loan officer, “required the mortgage applicant to provide intrusive and unnecessary documentation regarding his disabilities before approving his FHA-insured mortgage”.
A persons qualifications to purchase a home should be the only criteria used to evaluate his or her loan application, not whether they are living with a disability, said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the press release. He adds, This agreement reaffirms HUDs ongoing commitment to ensuring that mortgage lenders treat all applicants fairly.
Fair housing laws forbid discrimination in the terms and conditions of a loan based on a disability, including imposing different application or qualification criteria, according to the press release.
This case only came to light because the victim of the discrimination filed a complaint–often the only way to prevent future discrimination is to pursue such cases with HUD. The press release says, “…an applicant for a loan with Mortgage One filed a complaint alleging that the lender delayed his application because of his disabilities.”
“Specifically, the man alleged that before closing on the loan, Mortgage One requested that he provide verification from his doctor that his disability is permanent and/or a letter from the Social Security Administration stating that he would remain on disability for at least three years.”
You can read the full text of the agreement via downloadable PDF from the HUD official site.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
Browse by Date: