The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) recently announced that it has entered into
an agreement with Hunt Mortgage, a licensed mortgage banker, to address the DFS’s findings that there was a “demonstrable lack of lending to minorities and in majority-minority neighborhoods in Western and Central New York by Hunt Mortgage.” DFS also released
Hunt Agreement. The Agreement relates to Hunt’s residential mortgage lending practices and arises out of DFS’s review of Hunt’s HMDA data from 2016 to 2019. It recites that DFS reviewed Hunt’s fair lending policies, fair lending training materials, marketing and advertising policies, marketing efforts, marketing materials and underwriting and pricing procedures, as well as additional lending data provided by Hunt, and took testimony from Hunt officials. Although DFS found no evidence of intentional discrimination and made no finding of any fair lending violations, it did find weakness in Hunt’s fair lending and compliance programs. More specifically, it found that Hunt made no efforts to define the areas it serves, did not track marketing efforts, including where marketing materials were sent, and did not take any targeted efforts to ensure that it was serving all races and classes equally.