M&T Bank
In 2015, M&T Bank, the nation’s 17th-largest bank, came under fire for discriminating against Black, Hispanic and Asian borrowers by giving white borrowers with lesser qualifications higher loan amounts.
The 2015 lawsuit claimed the bank steered home buyers to a particular neighborhood based on their race or ethnicity, and the suit also accused the bank of violating the landmark Fair Housing Act of 1968, which sought to put an end to housing segregation.
M&T Bank’s New York City employees could be heard and seen giving special treatment to white prospective borrowers, according to the suit. From 2012 to 2014, the Fair Housing Justice Center sent out several actors to test whether or not the bank discriminated against people of color. In one occurrence, a Black candidate was denied a loan because a loan officer told her she did not have enough savings. But a white actor posing as a borrower with a slightly lower income, lower credit scores and $9,000 less in savings was pre-approved for a loan.
M&T Bank