The civil rights group accuses lenders of preying on African-American borrowers

NAACP chapters nationwide took a stand Wednesday in a national “Day of Action” against discriminatory lending practices of such mortgage giants as Citi, HSBC, WaMu, GMAC and JP Morgan. In addition to agreeing to stop preying on Black borrowers, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group wants the companies to make amends for the financial pain they have caused. “Every one of us deserves equal access to the ‘American dream’ of homeownership,” said NAACP Interim General Counsel Angela Ciccolo. “Making amends is just the beginning. We want to make sure African Americans are never victimized by the lending industry again. This discrimination was nationwide and cut across income-levels. People with six-figure incomes, significant down-payments and who had owned several homes before were not immune from being discriminated against because of their race.” The NAACP has filed a class-action lawsuit against 17 major lenders, alleging that “African-American borrowers were given loans with higher interest rates and other poor terms solely because of their race,” according to statement from association spokesman Richard McIntyre. During Wednesday’s simultaneous event, leaders at NAACP chapters in 21 locations – including New York, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Las Vegas, suburban Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Reno, Memphis, Seattle and southern California – gathered at lending institutions and in affected neighborhoods to highlight the pervasive and systemic discrimination against African Americans within the mortgage industry and to demand an end to it, the NAACP said in the statement. “The only difference between the victims in this case and other customers is the color of their skin,” said Brian Kabateck, who is co-lead counsel on the suit. “They had the same credit, the same income and the same qualifications. But because they were African American, they were ripped off.” According to the NAACP, recent research, including federal data, proves the rampant discrimination in mortgage lending.