Overview

• Bank of America has been fined $12 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for submitting false mortgage data to the federal government.
• The bank allegedly failed to ask mortgage applicants about their race, ethnicity, and sex, then reported that the applicants chose not to give that information.
• The violation, which occurred over a three-month period between 2016 and 2020, is against the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, a federal law enacted in 1975.
• Bank of America did not admit or deny wrongdoing, but has stated that it collected demographic data in 99 percent of applications during the years reviewed by the CFPB.
• The $12 million fine will be deposited in the CFPB’s victims relief fund.