NAACP members allege loan bias

   About 20 members of the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP on Wednesday called on some of the nation's largest mortgage lenders to eliminate discriminatory lending practices and "make amends" for such discrimination against black borrowers.

   The protest, held across the street from the El Paso County Public Trustee's Office, also highlighted a classaction lawsuit filed nearly a year ago in a Los Angeles federal court by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against 17 of the nation's largest mortgage lenders alleging they steered black borrowers into higher-rate subprime loans while giving more favorable terms to white borrowers.

   The "amends" could include restructuring and changing the terms of subprime loans made to black borrowers as well as rebates and credits to affected borrowers, said Richard McIntire, a NAACP spokesman in Baltimore.

   The event was held near the trustee's downtown office because the county agency handles mortgage foreclosures, which include subprime loans made to borrowers who couldn't keep up increased monthly payments after rates increased when low promotional rates expired. Foreclosure filings in the county last year broke a 19-year-old record and are on pace this year to shatter that record.

   "When discrimination leads to foreclosure, much more than a home is lost," Rosemary Harris, president of the local NAACP branch, said at a press conference during the 30-minute protest. "It's true that wrapped up in the mortgage crisis were homebuyers who bit off more than they could chew. But we're talking about banks engaging in a deliberate and systematic pattern of discrimination to steer African-Americans into bad loans."

The suit, which was amended in December to add more lenders as defendants, names many of the nation's largest lenders, including Washington Mutual Inc., HSBC Finance Corp., GMAC Mortgage Group LLC, Chase Bank, their subsidiaries and several others. Some of the lenders have settled; all deny the allegations in the suit. A hearing is scheduled July 29 in Los Angeles to schedule a trial date.

   The local protest was among 21 nationwide in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Southern California and other cities. The protests marked the upcoming oneyear anniversary of the suit. 

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