Bank of America's Countrywide Financial business has agreed to pay a record fine of $335m to settle discrimination charges.

美国银行下属美国金融公司同意支付3.35亿美元歧视性罚款。

The US justice department said around 200,000 qualified¹ African-American and Hispanic（西班牙的） borrowers were charged with higher rates "solely² because of their race or national origin".

Dan Frahm, a Bank of America spokesman, said in a statement that the bank did not practise lending based on race.

BoA bought Countrywide in 2008.

The settlement covers conduct between 2004 and 2008, before the BoA takeover.

'Discrimination with a smile'

Countrywide specialised in sub-prime mortgages, which were often granted without proper checks on criteria³ including the creditworthiness of borrowers.

The justice department said Countrywide had "steered⁴" more than 10,000 minority borrowers into sub-prime mortgages, while white borrowers with similar credit profiles received prime loans.

Those sub-prime mortgage holders⁶ ended up paying more in fees and rates.

"These institutions should make judgements based on applicants⁷' creditworthiness, not on the colour of their skin," Attorney General Eric Holder⁵ told reporters at a Wednesday press conference.

Borrowers in 41 states and the District of Columbia were affected⁸ by Countrywide's lending practices.

The justice department accused the company of abusing the trust of minority lenders, advertising⁹ that its offices had Spanish-speaking staff while charging Hispanic customers higher rates than they were qualified for.

"This is discrimination with a smile," said Thomas Perez, head of the department's civil rights division.

The civil rights division has about 20 open investigations¹⁰ in similar practices against minority home-buyers.

Dan Frahm, a Bank of America spokesman, said: "We discontinued Countrywide products and practices that were not in keeping with our commitment and will continue to resolve and put behind us the remaining Countrywide issues."