A Philadelphia mortgage lender owned by Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to pay $24 million to resolve lending discrimination claims in three states, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday, in what prosecutors have called the second-largest “redlining” settlement in the agency’s history, the Washington Post reported. Trident Mortgage Co. failed to provide mortgage lending services to neighborhoods of color in the Philadelphia metro area, which includes neighborhoods in Camden, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., from at least 2015 to 2019, federal officials said. The company engaged in a host of discriminatory practices, such as concentrating offices in majority-White neighborhoods and excluding qualified families from receiving credit. The complaint alleged that loan officers and other employees sent and received work emails containing racial slurs and demeaning references to communities of color, the department said. As part of the agreement to resolve the allegations, Trident will invest more than $20 million to increase credit opportunities in neighborhoods of color in the region, the department said. Because the company no longer operates a lending business, it will contract with another company to provide loan subsidies and services to the affected communities in and around Philadelphia, Camden and Wilmington. Trident also agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty.
