FTC alleges mortgage lender discriminated against latino borrowers

Talkleft:

In a federal lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles, the Federal Trade Commission accused Golden Empire Mortgage Inc. of violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by charging Latino borrowers higher interst rates and fees than it charged non-Latino whites.

The FTC alleged that the problem stemmed from Golden Empire's practice of giving its employees and branch managers wide leeway to make more money by charging "overages," higher fees and interest rates than the borrowers qualified for. The complaint alleged that the practice resulted in Hispanics being charged more because of their national origin.