OceanFirst Bank Announces Voluntary Settlement of Fair Lending Claims by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
September 18 2024 - 2:40PM
OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) (the “Company”), the
holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. (the “Bank” or
“OceanFirst”), announced today that the Bank has voluntarily
entered into settlement agreements (the “Agreements”) with the
United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) and United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development to resolve claims that
the Bank violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing
Act in the New Brunswick-Lakewood, New Jersey lending area, which
includes Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.
The settlement is one of approximately a dozen
agreements reached by the DOJ with mortgage lenders since 2021,
totaling over $120 million in investments in mortgage lending
subsidies, financial education and outreach.
Founded in 1902, OceanFirst Bank, named after
its county of origin, maintained its physical locations primarily
in Ocean County, New Jersey for more than eight decades. Starting
in 2015, the Bank began expanding its footprint into other parts of
southern New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania. In 2018, the Bank
acquired Sun National Bank, which was the first time it established
a significant presence in central New Jersey, including Middlesex
and Monmouth counties. While the acquisition of Sun expanded the
physical footprint of OceanFirst in the New Brunswick market,
residential mortgage lending opportunities initially were limited
due to the time needed to build the corresponding operations and
volume as Sun National Bank had discontinued consumer lending
several years prior to their sale. Since 2019, OceanFirst has made
significant commitments to minority market lending and outreach
initiatives in the New Brunswick area and continues to explore ways
to build and deepen relationships for further growth in these
communities. These efforts are anchored in the Bank’s full-service
branch in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Christopher D. Maher, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, of OceanFirst Financial Corp., stated, “The
commitments we are announcing today are consistent with our Bank’s
122-year history of providing credit and other financial services
to all residents of the communities we serve. We look forward to
continuing the Bank’s efforts in the New Brunswick-Lakewood market
to help meet the lending and banking needs of families, businesses,
schools and organizations.”
Under the Agreements, the Bank has committed to
invest at least $14 million in a mortgage loan subsidy fund for
eligible residents in Middlesex and Monmouth counties over a
five-year period. The Bank also has agreed to invest $400,000 in
community partnerships, spend $140,000 per year in targeted
marketing, advertising and outreach in the New Brunswick-Lakewood
area which includes Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties, and
provide financial education workshops designed to expand access to
home mortgage credit.
The Bank also will continue lending and
community development initiatives that pre-date the settlement, and
which are designed to increase access to residential lending and
other financial services in the New Brunswick market and across its
footprint. Since 2020, the Bank has provided over $625 million in
loans and investments benefitting thousands of people in the
communities it serves. Specific initiatives include:
OCEANFIRST
BANK COMMUNITY LENDING AND INVESTMENT PROGRAMS*Time period
is 1/1/20 through 6/30/24 unless otherwise noted. |
|
Program |
Total Loans or Investments* |
# benefitting |
Description |
|
NeighborFirst |
$119.5 million |
422 |
Down payment assistance, discounted interest rates and other
benefits for home purchases by residents of majority-Black,
Hispanic and Asian census tracts and low- and moderate-income
applicants. Eligible homebuyers may qualify for grants towards
closing costs. |
|
Community Development Loans & Investments |
$495 million |
--- |
Loans and investments for community development-related purposes,
including $236 million to build and revitalize affordable
housing. |
|
Small Business Lending |
$410,000+ |
--- |
Loans to minority- and women-owned businesses. |
|
Home Buyer Dream Program (formerly First Home Club) |
$14.1 million |
65 |
OceanFirst participated in Federal Home Loan Bank program,
providing loans and grants to facilitate home purchase. |
|
New Brunswick Branch |
|
200+ |
Opened in December 2023, offers a full range of financial services
solutions throughout the community. |
|
Consumer Financial Education |
|
840+ |
Over 800 hours of financial education programs at more than 145
events, often in conjunction with nonprofit organizations and
schools throughout the Bank's footprint, since 2021. |
|
Employee Community Engagement |
|
1,000+ |
In 2023, over 7,000 hours of volunteering throughout the Bank's
footprint. |
|
OceanFirst Foundation |
$48+ million in grants (since 1996) |
thousands+ |
Established by OceanFirst Bank in 1996 in conjunction with the
Initial Public Offering (IPO), the Foundation provides grants to
organizations in central and southern NJ that promote access to
housing, youth development, health and wellness and other
services. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
About OceanFirst Financial
Corp.OceanFirst Financial Corp.’s subsidiary, OceanFirst
Bank N.A., founded in 1902, is a $13.3 billion regional bank
providing financial services throughout New Jersey and in the major
metropolitan areas between Massachusetts and Virginia. OceanFirst
Bank delivers commercial and residential financing, treasury
management, trust and asset management, and deposit services and is
one of the largest and oldest community-based financial
institutions headquartered in New Jersey. To learn more about
OceanFirst, go to www.oceanfirst.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsIn
addition to historical information, this current report contains
certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based
on certain assumptions and describe future plans, strategies and
expectations of the Company. These forward-looking statements are
generally identified by use of the words “believe,” “expect,”
“intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “will,” “should,”
“may,” “view,” “opportunity,” “potential,” or similar expressions
or expressions of confidence. The Company’s ability to predict
results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is
inherently uncertain. Factors which could have a material adverse
effect on the operations of the Company and its subsidiaries
include, but are not limited to: changes in interest rates,
inflation, general economic conditions, potential recessionary
conditions, levels of unemployment in the Company’s lending area,
real estate market values in the Company’s lending area, potential
goodwill impairment, natural disasters, potential increases to
flood insurance premiums, the current or anticipated impact of
military conflict, terrorism or other geopolitical events, the
level of prepayments on loans and mortgage-backed securities,
legislative/regulatory changes, monetary and fiscal policies of the
U.S. Government including policies of the U.S. Treasury and the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the quality or
composition of the loan or investment portfolios, demand for loan
products, deposit flows, the availability of low-cost funding,
changes in liquidity, including the size and composition of the
Company’s deposit portfolio, and the percentage of uninsured
deposits in the portfolio, changes in capital management and
balance sheet strategies and the ability to successfully implement
such strategies, competition, demand for financial services in the
Company’s market area, changes in consumer spending, borrowing and
saving habits, changes in accounting principles, a failure in or
breach of the Company’s operational or security systems or
infrastructure, including cyberattacks, the failure to maintain
current technologies, failure to retain or attract employees, the
effect of the Company’s rating under the Community Reinvestment
Act, the impact of pandemics on our operations and financial
results and those of our customers and the Bank’s ability to
successfully integrate acquired operations. These risks and
uncertainties are further discussed in the Company’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, under Item 1A -
Risk Factors and elsewhere, and subsequent securities filings and
should be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements and
undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. The Company
does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to
publicly release the result of any revisions which may be made to
any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances
after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of
anticipated or unanticipated events.
Company Contact:Jill Apito HewittDirector
Corporate CommunicationsOceanFirst Financial Corp.Tel: (732)
240-4500, ext. 27513Email: jhewitt@oceanfirst.com
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