Bank of America Fined $12 Million for Mortgage Data Misreporting
Bank of America has agreed to pay a $12 million fine to settle charges by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that it routinely submitted inaccurate information about mortgage applicants to the federal government. The bank's loan officers failed to ask applicants required questions about their race, ethnicity, and sex, and then falsely reported that the applicants chose not to respond. This violated the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, a law that helps regulators assess whether lenders are engaged in discriminatory lending. Bank of America did not admit or deny wrongdoing and stated that it has improved training to ensure proper collection of demographic data.
