Bank of America agreed to pay $12 million to settle allegations that hundreds of its loan officers failed to collect required demographic data from mortgage applicants — specifically, race, ethnicity and sex — but reported to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the applicants had chosen not to respond, the agency said Tuesday.
“Bank of America violated a federal law that thousands of mortgage lenders have routinely followed for decades,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement Tuesday, referring to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. “It is illegal to report false information to federal regulators, and we will be taking additional steps to ensure that Bank of America stops breaking the law.”
