OceanFirst Bank in New Jersey touts its “inclusive and diverse culture” and understanding of the “uniqueness of the communities” it serves. A different picture emerges in a new court settlement that resolves claims the bank engaged in discriminatory lending practices.

OceanFirst, which has operations throughout New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area, agreed to pay more than $15 million to settle U.S. Justice Department claims it engaged in a pattern of racially discriminatory credit practices in predominantly Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey.

In a consent decree signed on Wednesday, the bank said it neither “admits nor denies” wrongdoing and that it settled to avoid litigation. The payout will go toward bolstering outreach and lending in the specified communities. The case draws renewed attention to redlining, which was prohibited by the Fair Housing Act of 1968 but whose harms still endure.

Since 2021, the Justice Department has resolved 13 cases nationwide with lenders accused of redlining, or failing to provide credit services in communities because of residents’ race, color or national origin. The cases have generated $137 million in settlements, with proceeds used to encourage lending and home investment in the communities where the conduct allegedly occurred.

“We are committed to ensuring that everyone in New Jersey has access to the American dream of homeownership, regardless of race, color or national origin,” New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement announcing the settlement with OceanFirst, which is headquartered in Toms River, Ocean County.

He said the agreement underscores “our shared commitment to achieving justice and creating equitable opportunities for Americans, particularly those who have historically been denied access.” The agreement still requires a judge’s approval.

Christopher D. Maher, chair and CEO of the bank’s parent company, said in a statement, “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.”

Redlining has long been identified by researchers, including progressive think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, as a contributing factor for persistent racial segregation in New Jersey communities and schools, as well as long-standing inequities in funding the latter.

A 2018 Brookings Institute study found that owner-occupied homes in Black neighborhoods nationwide are undervalued by $48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses, and lost opportunities for racial minorities in wealth-building and saving for college and business investment.

“Laws have changed, but the value of assets — buildings, schools, leadership and land itself — are inextricably linked to the perceptions of Black people. And those negative perceptions persist,” Brookings researchers wrote.

The Justice Department alleges that, from 2018 through at least 2022, OceanFirst failed to provide mortgage lending services in the predominantly Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties. The allegations are outlined in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, in tandem with a consent decree.

While discouraging people in those communities from obtaining home loans, the bank disproportionately focused its outreach and advertising on majority-white communities, placed its branches in majority-white neighborhoods, and closed its only branches in the majority-Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods in the three counties, according to the complaint, with alleges violations under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

The consent decree calls for the bank to invest at least $14 million in a loan subsidy fund to increase access to home mortgage, home improvement and home refinancing loans for residents in the targeted counties.

Another $400,000 will go to community partnerships to provide services related to credit, consumer financial education, homeownership, and foreclosure prevention in the three counties, while $700,000 will go toward advertising, outreach, and consumer financial education.

OceanFirst also agreed to open a loan production office and maintain the bank’s recently opened full-service branch, both located in predominantly Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods in the three counties, with at least one mortgage loan officer assigned to each location.

The bank said in a statement that it will continue lending and community development initiatives that “pre-date the settlement.”