JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Less than two years after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland came to Jacksonville to announce a settlement with Ameris Bank over redlining allegations, a federal judge quietly terminated the consent order in the case, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported.
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Atlanta-based Ameris Bancorp disclosed the termination in its quarterly report filed Aug. 8 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard approved the termination on May 20 after the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion to end it, but the dismissal was not previously announced.
“In support of this motion, the United States advises the Court that Ameris Bank has demonstrated a commitment to remediation,” the Justice Department said in its motion to dismiss filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
Garland announced the consent order in October 2023, alleging Ameris “engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Jacksonville.”
Garland said Ameris Bank engaged in the practice of redlining, where lenders deny, discourage or avoid providing loans in neighborhoods because of the race, color or national origin of the people living in those neighborhoods.
The DOJ alleged that the bank located its branches in specific areas of Jacksonville to serve majority-white neighborhoods and to avoid serving Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. 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 parts of Jacksonville.
In another example, Garland said that in 2020, Ameris sent out a “free checking mailer” that the bank said was targeted to low-and moderate-income areas in majority-minority neighborhoods. Ameris mailed over 22,000 postcards with images of white models to 13 ZIP codes in Jacksonville. Not one postcard was sent to a single resident in a majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhood, Garland said.
Ameris denied the allegations but said it agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation.
Under the consent order, Ameris agreed to several provisions to improve its practices in Jacksonville, and the Justice Department said in its motion to dismiss that the bank has complied.
“Ameris Bank has disbursed the full amount of the loan subsidy fund ($7,500,000) as required,” it said.
Under the terms of the settlement, Ameris said it would provide $7.5 million in mortgage loan subsidies over a five-year period in majority Black and Hispanic Census Tracts in Jacksonville. The bank said it will also commit, for the same five-year period, $900,000 for focused advertising and outreach and $600,000 for community development partnerships providing services related to credit, financial education, homeownership, and foreclosure prevention.
“Ameris Bank is substantially in compliance with the other monetary and injunctive terms of the Consent Order.”
Ameris has been headquartered in Atlanta since moving its executive offices from Jacksonville in 2019.