JPMorgan Chase & Co. engaged in a “pattern of discriminatory” lending that led to foreclosures, the city of Miami said in a lawsuit filed last week in federal court, the latest in a series of similar claims against the nation’s largest banks, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Last month, Banco Santander SA’s U.S. unit was sued by the city of Providence, R.I., over claims that it stopped issuing mortgages in minority neighborhoods after the housing bubble burst. Santander Bank, previously named Sovereign Bank, pulled out of the neighborhoods and focused on white communities after being acquired by the Madrid-based lender in 2009, the city alleged. Miami and Los Angeles are among cities to have filed similar lawsuits against Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. for allegedly “red-lining” black and Hispanic areas as no-loan zones, and then “reverse red-lining,” flooding the areas with predatory mortgages even when minorities qualified for better terms. Miami is seeking damages for reduced property taxes and higher expenses for municipal services associated with foreclosures, according to the lawsuit, filed on June 13.
