IN an interesting move, three Georgia counties have filed a
lawsuit claiming that British bank HSBC has cost them hundreds of millions of
dollars in extra expenses and damage to their tax bases by aggressively signing
minorities to housing loans that were likely to fail. The lawsuit states that
the banks violated the Fair Housing Act, which provides protections against
housing or renting policies or practices, including lending, that discriminate
on the basis of race, colour, national origin, religion, sex, family status or
handicap.
The Atlanta-area
counties' failure or success with the relatively novel strategy could help
determine whether other local governments in the US try to hold big banks
accountable for losses in tax revenue based on what they claim are
discriminatory or predatory lending practices. Similar lawsuits resulted in
settlements this year worth millions of dollars for communities in Maryland and
Tennessee.
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