JPMorgan Chase has reached a $50,000 settlement with a plaintiff who accused the mortgage lender of appraising her house for less because of her race, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday afternoon.
The payment must be made within 15 days of the effective date of the settlement.
Additionally, the "conciliation agreement," as HUD called it, requires the nation's fifth largest residential originator to “provide home lending advisors and client care specialists with mandatory training on the reconsideration of value process and fair lending issues related to appraisals,” HUD said.
“The race of a homeowner and the racial composition of their neighborhood must not influence the valuation of a home,” said Jeanine Worden, acting assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD.
Worden added, “The Fair Housing Act prohibits the consideration of race as a factor in the appraisal of a home and in the provision of other real estate-related services. Discrimination in home buying, mortgage lending, and property appraisal deprive qualified individuals of an equal opportunity to pursue homeownership as a path to family stability and financial security.”
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