$20 Million Redlining Settlement in Tri-State Area

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Following a four-year investigation, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday that a $20 million settlement was reached with Trident Mortgage Company LP to resolve allegations of redlining in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, Camden and Wilmington.

“Redlining was outlawed in the 1960s, but its effects still rob people of the opportunity to own a home and build wealth,” Shapiro said.

The announcement occurred at a press conference at Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia, an area hit hard by redlining.

Shapiro said residents in redlined neighborhoods are vulnerable to unscrupulous, predatory lending.

Historic redlining in majority-minority neighborhoods, including those in Philadelphia, correlate with troubling patterns of poverty, blight, and violence.

The U.S. Justice Department officials also said the employees at the company routinely traded e-mails filled with racist jokes that referred to specific neighborhoods as “ghettos.”

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said Philadelphia was pleased to participate in the project, noting that Philadelphia is one of the top cities with segregation issues.

“For far too many years, Philadelphia’s Black, Latino, and other communities of color have lacked equal access to lending and legal deed ownership," Romero said. "These historically redlined areas of Philadelphia continue to experience disproportionate amounts of poverty, poor health outcomes, limited educational attainment, unemployment, and violent crime.”

According to court records:

• From 2015 to 2019, Trident failed to provide mortgage lending services to neighborhoods of color in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
• Trident failed to direct its loan officers to serve—and its loan officers did not serve—the credit needs of neighborhoods of color.
• Trident’s loan officers and other employees sent and received work e-mails containing racial slurs and messages referring to communities of color as “ghetto.”
• Trident did not pursue mortgage business in majority-minority census tracts equally to the way it did with respect to majority White census tracts,

Romero encouraged the public to contact her office about unfair housing problems.
The investigation found prospective Black homeowners were 2.7 times as likely as white to be denied a conventional mortgage, even when controlling for applicants’ income, loan amount and neighborhood.

The U.S. Attorney's office and thePennsylvania Office of Attorney Generals worked together to obtain the settlement.

As part of the settlement, an independent lender will help qualified home buyers receive financial assistance.

In the meantime, the Office of Attorney General has set up an email inbox for Pennsylvanians interested in buying a home in one of the impacted communities.

Pennsylvanians should submit their information by emailing redlining@attorneygeneral.gov.