“Bank of America settles loan discrimination charges”

Bank of America has settled a lawsuit brought by customers with disabilities who were seeking loans on home mortgages between May 2007 and April 2012, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The customers who filed the lawsuit would not have been required to pay higher interest rates on mortgage loans or face any other increased financial burden beyond that of non-disabled applicants. Rather, the plaintiffs claimed that they were asked to provide documentation regarding Social Security income not required of other applicants, the story states. As the article details, Bank of America has faced similar allegations of discriminatory loan practices in the past. In this case, however, the bank says they were not breaking federal law and that the settlement decision was made only to mitigate litigation expenses, according to the article.