The institution also agreed to five-year compliance training for the Fair Housing Act.
New Jersey’s OceanFirst Bank filed a proposed settlement agreeing to pay $15.1 million to settle charges of redlining alleged by a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit. Redlining is an illegal practice that denies mortgages and credit card services to residents of minority neighborhoods.
The Justice Department alleged that OceanFirst engaged in this form of financial discrimination from 2018 to 2022. The 122-year-old bank neither admitted or denied these allegations, but in its proposal its agreed to spend an additional $1.1 million to implement five years of fair housing and credit card training for its employees.
The settlement “will help to ensure that future generations of Americans inherit a legacy of home ownership that they have been too often denied,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated. “Redlining is unlawful, it is harmful, and it is wrong.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Acting Secretary Adrienne Todman as she oversees the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- For Attorney General Garland and Justice Department officials as they hold banks accountable for unfair lending practices.
Sources: Reuters, Department of Justice
