Your Right To Fair Lending

Every homebuyer looking for a mortgage is protected under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act from any discrimination based on race, mental/physical handicap, religious affiliation, personal beliefs, marital status, family status (the number of children your have, their ages), national origin, gender, age, receiving public assistance, or implementing your rights under the consumer credit protection acts. These laws forbid lenders from considering any of those reasons when deciding whether to approve or decline your application as well as any other dealings that have to do with the mortgage/loan. The Fair Housing Act forbids and disallows discrimination in housing real estate dealings on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Due to these laws, a borrower/consumer cannot be denied a loan or charged higher fees or offered unfavorable loan terms based on any of the characteristics that were mentioned above. These laws are implemented to protect the consumer from unfair and illegal treatment when looking to obtain a loan. If you feel that a lender or anybody involved in the loan process has treated you unfairly based on any of those characteristics then you may chose to file a complaint or consult a lawyer to find out more about your rights as a consumer.

For example, your lender cannot by any means discourage you from applying for a mortgage loan because of any of the above stated reasons. Whatever your personal characteristics or ethnicity are, your lender must offer you the approximately the same credit terms as they would to other applicants who are requesting a similar loan. Your lenders are not allowed to treat you differently or discriminate against you based on your gender, race, color or any other factors that were stated above. The bottom line is that they cannot take any of those factors into account when dealing with borrowers/applicants. The things they should do include the following:

• Eagerly give you an application and any relevant information you need to know on how to apply for a loan.
• Willingly talk to you about the many different types of mortgage loans that are offered and tell you whether or not you have a change in qualifying for them.
• The lender has to work fast to make a decision on the whether to approve or deny your application without falsely creating delays in the process once you have handed the lender all the information you were asked for. This information can include written evidence of how much money you make or what amount of money you have in savings.
• The racial or ethnic background of the neighborhood where the home you are looking to purchase is located cannot influence the lender in any way.

Once you apply for a mortgage and in the event that you get turned down, it is important to keep in mind that not every lending institution has the same lending requirements. So all you might have to do is just look around for another lender. It is always a wise idea to shop around and find out what each institution is looking for when it comes to approving a loan and this way you have a wide variety to pick from. However if in any way you feel that you have been discriminated against, you should contact one or more of the following agencies:

Private Fair Housing Groups

If you contact these groups they will help you understand the mortgage process as well as take you through it. These groups will also help you comprehend whether your experience suggests that the lender is discriminating against you unlawfully, and they will be able to help you decide if you should file a complaint.

Human Rights Agencies

They are government agencies that are set up by the city, county, or state governments to deal with discrimination.

Attorneys

Oftentimes, attorneys will advise you on whether the treatment you feel you experienced gives you legal grounds for filing a lawsuit against the lender. They will explain to you what monetary damages are as well as the other types of assistance available to individuals who can verify that unlawful discrimination took place.

Federal Or State Enforcement Agencies

These agencies will check the activities of mortgage lenders to be certain they conformed to the laws against lending discrimination. When you write to any of those agencies, include your name and address; name and address of the lending institution you are complaining about; address of the house involved; and a short explanation and the date of the suspected infringement. The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination in housing sales or loans on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, familial status (having children under the age of 18), or handicap.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of race, religion, age, color, national origin, receipt of public assistance funds, sex, marital status, or the exercise of any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.