Ameris Bank agreed to invest $9 million in Jacksonville minority neighborhoods to settle a complaint by the Justice Department that it discriminated against Black and Hispanic home ownership.
Attorney General Merrick Garland visited the city’s northside on Thursday, Oct. 19, to allege the bank violated the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act by denying or discouraging home loan applications in Jacksonville.
“Our complaint against Ameris alleges that the bank located its branches in specific areas of Jacksonville to serve majority-white neighborhoods and to avoid serving majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods,” Garland said. “This included failing to open even a single branch in a majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhood in Jacksonville, despite having opened 18 full-service branches in other areas of Jacksonville.”
In the settlement agreement, Ameris admitted to none of the Justice Department’s allegations, and CEO Palmer Proctor denied the government’s claims.
“We strongly disagree with any suggestion that we have engaged in discriminatory conduct and are confident in our efforts to provide equal access to affordable mortgage products in the Jacksonville community and all the markets we serve,” Proctor said in a statement. “We cooperated fully with the department’s inquiry and have entered into this settlement to avoid the distraction of litigation and because we share the department’s goal of expanding access to homeownership in underserved areas.”
U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard acknowledged that the bank admitted no wrongdoing in her order approving the settlement.
“There have been no factual findings or adjudication in this case,” Howard said in her order filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
