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One of the largest banks in the country, Bank of America, is getting slapped with a multi-million dollar fine from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The agency says Bank of America will pay $12 million for repeatedly sending false information to federal regulators.
The CFPB says BofA has routinely violated the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which was enacted in 1975.
The law requires lenders to maintain certain records and submit data about loan applications and originations to the CFPB to protect consumers against predatory practices in the residential mortgage market.
The CFPB says that hundreds of BofA loan officers neglected their duty to ask mortgage applicants a number of demographic questions as mandated by federal law.
But instead of following up to get the necessary details, the loan officers falsely reported that 100% of mortgage applicants opted not to provide their demographic data over a three-month period.
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The regulator also says that BofA failed to ensure that its loan officers were providing accurate information on mortgage applications.
According to the CFPB, the lender’s loan officers were not collecting the required demographic data from mortgage applicants as early as 2013 but BofA chose to overlook the shortcoming.
According to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra,
“Bank of America violated a federal law that thousands of mortgage lenders have routinely followed for decades. It is illegal to report false information to federal regulators, and we will be taking additional steps to ensure that Bank of America stops breaking the law.”
In addition to the $12 million fine, the CFPB is requiring Bank of America to take measures that would stop its illegal data-collection practice.
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