$35 Million Demand for Mortgage Lending Bias

PITTSBURGH (CN) - Uncle Sam wants National City Bank to pay $35 million for discriminating against minority homebuyers for six years.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice filed the proposed agreement and consent order in Federal Court, against National City Bank and its successor, The PNC Financial Interest Group.

National City charged 76,000 black and Latino homebuyers higher interest rates than similarly situated Anglos from 2002 to 2008, the government says in the 15-page lawsuit.

As a result, minority buyers had to pay more for their homes, "not based on creditworthiness or other objective criteria related to borrower risk, but because of their race or national origin," according to the complaint.

The victims of the discrimination are "spread across the country," Uncle Sam says.

The proposed settlement must be approved by a federal judge.

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