Justice department intervenes in suit alleging racial bias in mortgage lending

Two Johns Hopkins professors say loanDepot lowballed them by nearly $300,000 on their Baltimore home due to their race

The Department of Justice on Monday intervened in a federal lawsuit alleging that an appraiser and a mortgage lender discriminated against a couple who are both Johns Hopkins University professors by significantly lowering the value of their Baltimore home and denying a loan because they are Black.

In response to a pending motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the mortgage lender, loanDepot, justice department civil rights attorneys filed a statement of interest" in a federal district court in Maryland arguing that the case raised significant questions about appraisal racial bias, noting that President Joe Biden had identified the issue as a priority for the federal government".