TRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS A US court has ruled that HSBC must face a lawsuit accusing the bank of violating the US Fair Housing Act by engaging in predatory mortgage lending in Chicago , after denying the company 's appeal to dismiss the March 2014 lawsuit . Cook County accused HSBC of using sophisticated hardware and software to steer thousands of black and Hispanic borrowers into subprime loans they often could not afford , which resulted in a " downward spiral " of delinquencies and foreclosures , eroded property taxes and required greater spending to ease urban blight . HSBC has declined to comment .
A US court has ruled that HSBC must face a lawsuit accusing the bank of violating the US Fair Housing Act by engaging in predatory mortgage lending in Chicago , after denying the company 's appeal to dismiss the March 2014 lawsuit . Cook County accused HSBC of using sophisticated hardware and software to steer thousands of black and Hispanic borrowers into subprime loans they often could not afford , which resulted in a " downward spiral " of delinquencies and foreclosures , eroded property taxes and required greater spending to ease urban blight . HSBC has declined to comment .