Consumer complaint received 2017-01-16
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Taking out the loan or lease

Complaint:
Synopsis of credit denial. 
I believe denial of a commercial business loan by Bank of America for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, with which they have a 12 year positive payment history, which has unpledged assets greater than 4 times the principal value of the loan requested, and in which they initiated the transaction and presented a loan proposal having all credit information, both personal and business available to them prior to the proposal having been made, and then basing the commercial loan denial on a personal home foreclosure was an excuse and not the true reason for the loan denial. The true reason can only be related to the telephone interview with XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, prior to the telephone interview, my financial and credit history with Bank of America had been sufficiently positive for XXXX XXXX to contact me and inquire if I wanted to refinance the balloon. On XX/XX/XXXX, also prior to the telephone interview, my financial and credit history was sufficiently positive to have been presented a loan proposal by XXXX XXXX. After review of my personal and business financial documents, practice profile and P & L Statement by the compliance team, but prior to the telephone interview, my financial and credit history with Bank of America had been deemed acceptable enough to proceed with a telephone interview and therefore to continue with the loan process. The 19 year old XXXX bankruptcy was known to Bank of America and the foreclosure information was available to them prior to XXXX XXXX initial query about refinancing the balloon. This information was available to Bank of America prior to the loan proposals having been provided or the collection of financial documents or the telephone interview. Therefore, based on the reasons cited by Bank of America for denying the commercial loan, there should never have been an inquiry regarding refinancing the balloon, a loan proposal presented, collection of financial records, or a telephone interview. Ostensibly, the one impediment to granting the loan was known to Bank of America before the process began. After having been told specifically by XXXX XXXX that the business financials were acceptable for loan approval something associated with the telephone interview that is not related to the financials, either personal or business, was the true reason for the loan denial. 

The primary question is what could be revealed about a loan applicant that is not discernible on paper? The answer : one 's race is easily discernible linguistically. I believe being linguistically profiled as XXXX is the unspoken and true reason for my business 's commercial loan denial. XXXX XXXX of XXXX University published work affirming that racial identity could be very accurately determined by voice. XXXX, XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; XXXX. Discriminatory lending practices are consistent with Bank of America 's lending ethos, specifically in XX/XX/XXXX when they settled unfair lending claims for {$330.00} XXXX dollars, in XX/XX/XXXX when they agreed to pay {$10.00} XXXX dollars over loan discrimination changes and most recently in XX/XX/XXXX when they were charged by HUD for discriminatory lending practices.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief