Hawaiian group back in court over lapsed mortgage promise
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
A group of Native Hawaiians has gone to federal court in an attempt to force Bank of America to fulfill a 10-year-old pledge to provide $150 million in mortgage loans promised to Native Hawaiians after a lending dispute.
The lawsuit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, names Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and board members. It seeks a court order that the board halt the bank's proposed merger with FleetBoston Financial Corp. until the pledge has been fulfilled.
The court complaint is the latest step in an ongoing campaign. Last fall, Hawaiian activist Pu'uhonua "Bumpy" Kanahele, a member of the Hawaii Fair Lending Coalition, asked the U.S. attorney's office to investigate the shortfall in issuing the mortgage loans.
Yesterday's action was filed by Hawaiians Momi Haili, Kahilihiwa Kipapa and Elizabeth Ann Ho'oipo Pa Martin, whom Kanahele said would have benefited from Bank of America's lending commitment.
The conflict began in 1994, when the coalition charged Bank of America with discriminatory lending practices toward customers of Hawaiian and Filipino ancestry. A federal hearing on the complaint led the bank — then negotiating its merger with Liberty Bank — to settle by making the lending commitment to Native Hawaiians.
Very few loans were made by the federally mandated 1998 deadline, Kanahele said.
The nonprofit group Hawaiian Community Assets Inc. was formed, and three years ago applied to become the first Native Hawaiian-controlled and -operated community development financial institution that could deliver the loans.
Bank of America officials could not be reached yesterday, but in past interviews, spokeswoman Mary Waller has said the bank made $100 million in "qualifying loans and investments" in partial fulfillment of the $150 million goal.
"We don't have a retail presence in Hawai'i," Waller said then. "We sold our branches in 1997, and yet we've made considerable progress toward our goal. Given that we don't have a retail presence there, I think that says a lot about our commitment to Hawai'i."
Eric Seitz, the attorney representing the Hawaiian group, said he expected his request for a preliminary injunction halting the merger to receive a hearing in a few weeks.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
