Lawsuit Accuses a Texas-Based Housing Developer of Targeting Hispanic Borrowers in Predatory Lending Scheme

A Texas-based housing developer and mortgage lender is accused of targeting members of the Houston area’s Hispanic community by offering loans to people who could not pay them back, selling them land in disrepair and taking advantage of language barriers.

Prosecutors allege Colony Ridge Development, LLC, and its subsidiaries carried out a predatory lending scheme in which foreclosures were part of the business model, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The developers — who handled over 40,000 lots across 33,000 acres — were sued by the Justice Department Wednesday in what was the first effort by civil rights prosecutors to confront predatory mortgage lending in the U.S.

Read the source article at CBS News