5 Major Lending Institutions That Paid Millions For Discriminating, Taking Advantage of Black People

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.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top