A company with a name like Bank of America which employs a patriotic, US flag-themed corporate logo, might be expected to champion American values?
Instead, this financial giant uses its vast power to actively and overtly discriminate against white Americans. BofA just started a new generous mortgage program for black and Hispanic borrowers, announced proudly by NBC News: “Bank of America Announces Zero Down Payment, Zero Closing Cost Mortgages for Black and Hispanic First Time Homebuyers.”
The message from Bank of America is clear: white Americans need not apply for this special program. If white Americans want a mortgage, they can also show up with a down payment and closing costs, because this new racial carve out, it’s expressly for black and brown Americans. Apparently, Asians citizens of America can also go pound sand, according to the potentates of Bank of America.
Those same banking bigwigs who now boastfully discriminate in mortgage lending, they seem to have forgotten that the American people – who are 70% white – saved BofA when that bank and its peer behemoths nearly collapsed the country’s financial system during the Housing and Credit Crisis of 2008. It was regular taxpayers, working-class people, who were forced to prop up the most powerful and supposedly sophisticated firms in America, all to prevent a systemic collapse.
Bank of America received an astonishing $45 billion cash infusion from US citizens in 2008 and 2009, plus a taxpayer guarantee on risky loans of over $100 Billion then held by BofA. As struggling taxpayers saved Wall Street, the pain for Main Street during the crisis received no such bailout. In total, 10 million Americans lost their homes during the Great Recession, and a gigantic $16 trillion in personal net worth was vaporized.
Fast forward to 2022, and Bank of America sees fit to “thank” the American people for this massive lifeline, with an explicitly bigoted lending plan. This new program from BofA promises “it requires no mortgage insurance or minimum credit score.” Great! How did lax lending standards work out for these giant banks back in 2006-2007?
The program certainly violates the spirit of fair housing and civil right laws, if not the actual letter. Bank of America’s intent with this set-aside cannot be nuanced, though, considering this quote from AJ Barkley, head of community lending for the bank: “our Community Affordable Loan Solution will help make…homeownership attainable for more Black and Hispanic families.” How about working-class white families, Mr. Barkley?
Home ownership becomes incredibly difficult in this era of runaway inflation which causes spikes in home prices and mortgage rates. Are aspirational white, working-class homebuyers simply not a priority to a bank that is literally named after our country?
