What is Fair Lending? The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on the protected classes of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability in lending, purchasing, selling, brokering, or appraising residential real property.
Fair Lending guarantees the same home buying and lending opportunities to everyone.
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Northwest Fair Housing Alliance Awarded 18-month $325,000 U.S. Dept. of HUD Fair Housing Organization Initiative (FHOI) Mortgage Rescue Component (MRC) Grant
Northwest Fair Housing Alliance Awarded 18-month $325,000 U.S. Dept. of HUD Fair Housing Organization Initiative (FHOI) Mortgage Rescue Component (MRC) Grant
SPOKANE, WA – Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA) has been awarded a $325,000 FHOI-MRC 18-month grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to build its capacity to identify, investigate, and refer lending complaints to HUD by developing a Fair Lending Investigation Unit within its existing fair housing investigation and advocacy program. NWFHA will hire a Fair Lending Investigation Specialist with a background in mortgage lending and investigation to develop and support enforcement actions relating to unfair lending and mortgage rescue scams for all protected classes in 17 counties in E. and Central WA (Spokane, Whitman, Garfield, Columbia, Asotin, Walla Walla, Franklin, Benton, Yakima, Grant, Adams, Lincoln, Douglas, Ferry, Okanogan, Stevens and Pend Oreille).
Specifically, NWFHA will (1) conduct complaint intake and investigation of fair lending and mortgage rescue schemes, refer jurisdictional complaints of fair lending discrimination to HUD, and mortgage scams to the WA Attorney General and/or the WA Department of Financial Institutions; (2) conduct testing to identify fair lending violations and mortgage rescue scams; (3) undertake systemic fair lending investigations, reviewing HMDA data to determine if predatory loans are made at higher rates to protected classes; (4) develop and disseminate fair lending and foreclosure prevention curricula and materials in English and Spanish, conduct trainings for the public, and maintain resource information for consumers and professionals; and (5) expand capacity of other organizations to identify unfair and predatory lending through knowledge sharing and training.
FHOI grants are available to assist qualified fair housing enforcement organizations with at least two years of experience in complaint intake, complaint investigation, testing for fair housing violations, and meritorious claims in the three years prior to the filing of their application. Northwest Fair Housing Alliance was founded in 1994, and has consistently received and rated highly on its performance of numerous HUD FHIP grants.
Fair Lending Discrimination in mortgage lending is prohibited by the federal Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to engage in the following practices based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (disability):
Refuse to make a mortgage loan;
Refuse to provide information regarding loans;
Impose different terms or conditions on a loan, such as different interest rates, points, or fees;
Discriminate in appraising property;
Refuse to purchase a loan or set different terms or conditions for purchasing a loan.
Español Asistencia para propietarios de vivienda - información y videos para saber más sobre los servicios gratuitos del programa Making Home Affordable.gov, El Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (HUD), NeighborWorks, y más...
Training & Seminars Fair Lending,Home Buyer & Financial Literacy trainings in Eastern & Central Washington
Tools for Homeowners Information and Video's from Making Homes Affordable Program, HUD, NeighborWorks, WA Dept of Financial Instutions, and more...
Making Home Affordable The Home Affordable Modification Program provides eligible homeowners the opportunity to modify their mortgages to make them more affordable. Over one million homeowners have already gotten help under the program.
How to Avoid Foreclosure This section contains video plus links to helpful worksheets and other support documents to help homeowners struggling with foreclosure.
