Business

Fair housing groups files complaint against Bancorp

April 17, 2012

A week after launching a similar complaint, the National Fair Housing Alliance has filed a federal housing discrimination complaint against U.S. Bancorp and U.S. Bank National Association, claiming that the bank failed to properly maintain foreclosed properties in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

U.S. Bank is the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States.

Last week, NFHA and the Metro (Atlanta) Fair Housing Services filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development against Wells Fargo, citing the same charges. NFHA conducted undercover investigations in several major American cities.

The group argues that the banks have failed in its upkeep and marketing of homes on minority neighborhoods, while maintaining nice, more expensive homes in white areas of the same cities.

About the Author

Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.

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