SAN ANTONIO–The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a Latino civil rights group, has filed two lawsuits against credit unions alleging loans were wrongfully denied to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) applicants, and stated more such suits could be coming.
The organization has filed 10 such lawsuits over the past seven years.
MALDEF has filed suit against Fresno, Calif.-based, $1.15-billion Noble Credit Union on behalf of a 28-year-old DACA recipient from California who was denied a car loan based on the credit union's "limited and arbitrary immigration-status requirements," according to the lawsuit reviewed by NBC News.
“Noemi Peraza Lopez applied for a $35,000 auto loan this past summer and got approval from Noble, according to the complaint, which was still being processed, pending acceptance by the court,” NBC News reported. “Noble then denied the loan after seeing that Peraza Lopez's driver’s license states it's for ‘limited-term, meaning its renewal aligns with the DACA recipient's renewal status every two years.
“Following the incident, Peraza Lopez applied for another loan at a different bank and received it,” the NBC News report continued. “But the terms were less favorable than the one Noble initially approved and denied, causing Peraza Lopez ‘to feel the deleterious effects of discrimination,’ according to the lawsuit.”
Second Suit Filed
A second lawsuit has been filed by MALDEF against the $16.8-billion First Technology FCU, which operates in both California and Oregon. That lawsuit alleges First Tech “unlawfully” denied a home equity loan to a DACA recipient based on his immigration statement, MALDEF stated.
According to the organization, the plaintiff in the case, Ismael Rodriguez Perez, applied for a home equity loan at a First Tech location in California in the summer of 2023.
“The 31-year-old DACA recipient was initially told he was approved for the loan, according to the lawsuit,” MALDEF said. “But the credit union conditioned the approval on Rodriguez Perez having a green card, which only permanent residents have, not DACA recipients.
Rodriguez Perez was later denied the loan after a First Tech representative told him his employment authorization card — which he had previously used to purchase a home in Washington state, obtain employment and open various bank and retirement accounts — would be insufficient on its own to get the loan, the lawsuit alleges.
Credit Union Responds
First Tech Federal Credit Union told NBC News in a statement it "does not engage in unlawful discrimination against loan applicants."
"While we are now aware of the lawsuit, the credit union has not yet been served with the complaint or otherwise notified," the statement reads, according to the report. "As a result, we have just started the investigation of the claims and are not in position to evaluate the allegations contained in the article or provide further comment on this pending litigation.”
Additional details on that suit are available here.
‘Hey, This Happened to Me’
MALDEF told NBC News it is investigating "at least half a dozen more" similar cases.
"Every time we file one of these cases, we get contacted by people saying, 'Hey, this happened to me at another bank or credit union’,” Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel with MALDEF, told NBC News.
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