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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – According to a federal lawsuit against Old National Bank, only 45 of its more than 2,550 mortgages between 2019 and 2020 went to black borrowers.
“We went through their numbers with them and at least the people I met agreed that their data was not where it needed to be,” said Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana.
Two maps provided by the organization show the number of loans made to black borrowers over a two-year period compared to loans made to white clients over the same period.
The practice is called the red line, which means keeping people of color within certain geographic areas by categorically limiting or denying mortgages to blacks to buy homes in what are considered white neighborhoods.
Currently, no victims have come forward. The Fair Housing Center tested Old National Bank by sending white and black “testers” to branches.
“We felt that even when black or African American housing applicants visited an Old National mortgage office, they were not treated the same as applicants seeking housing. white, ”Nelson said.
The federal complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center also states that Old National Bank has deliberately closed branches in predominantly black areas to focus its residential lending on white neighborhoods.
“In 2010, they had 53 branches in the Metro Indianapolis area. By 2020, they were down to 21. As of 2010, they had 27 branches in Marion County. In 2020 it was new, and those branches are majority white, ”Nelson said.
The former National Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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