Lawsuits filed by homeowners, city governments and nonprofits like the American Civil Liberties Union accuse Wall Street banks of targeting African-American and Latino customers with predatory loans leading up to the financial crisis.
“In many ways, we had a dual credit market where they were just getting pushed into the riskier side of the market, and a lot of that activity was stemming from mortgage brokers who were pushing loans,” said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending.