FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2025

CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org 

Trump Administration Reverses Lawsuit Against Egregiously Racist Lender
Decision marks a terrible step in Trump abandonment of civil rights laws

Washington, DC – The Trump administration’s decision to reverse an already settled lawsuit against a Chicago mortgage lender over a pattern of failing to serve Black neighborhoods and egregiously racist conduct is an unprecedented attack on the nation’s laws against discrimination in financial services, according to a new analysis from Americans for Financial Reform. 

“The reversal of this case plumbs new depths in the Trump administration’s utter contempt for the spirit and letter of civil rights laws designed to provide fair access to credit and financial services for everyone,” said Christine Chen Zinner, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform. “Without that access, no one can meaningfully prosper in today’s economy.”

The analysis can be found here.

Background:
The Trump-appointed leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), back in 2020, initiated a case against Chicago-based Townstone Financial over its failure to lend in majority-Black neighborhoods, a practice compounded by the racist remarks made by the company’s CEO. President Biden’s appointees to the CFPB completed the case with a monetary settlement that the new Trump administration is now returning to the guilty party.

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