The government secures a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over alleged redlining in Florida

abcnews.go.com:

The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations that it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans.

The bank denied violating fair lending laws and said it wanted to avoid litigation by agreeing to the deal, which does not include civil monetary penalties.

It’s the latest settlement over a practice known as redlining, which the Biden administration is tackling through a new task force that earlier this year reached the largest agreement of its kind in the department's history.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Atlanta-based Ameris Bank's home lending was focused disproportionately on mostly white areas of Jacksonville while other banks approved loans at three times the rate Ameris did, the government said.

The bank has never operated a branch in a majority Black and Hispanic neighborhood, and in one-third of those areas it did not receive a single application over the six-year period, even though other banks did, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

“Redlining has a significant impact on the health and wealth of these communities. Homeownership has been one of the most effective ways that Americans have built wealth in our country. When families can’t access credit to achieve homeownership, they lose an opportunity to share in this country’s prosperity,” Garland said at a news conference in Jacksonville