Last Tuesday, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced that Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, will compensate minority borrowers in New York who were charged more for loans than whites with similar financial profiles. 2005 federal data allegedly reveals that African American and Hispanic borrowers paid high interest rates on home purchase loans more often than whites living in the same areas, even when the whites had lower incomes. After purportedly commissioning expert statistical analyses, Spitzer’s office concluded that legitimate factors, like borrower credit scores and outstanding debts, may have contributed to the disparity, but did not explain it. As part of a new agreement with Spitzer, Countrywide has pledged to improve monitoring of its lending and to fund a $3 million consumer education program. The amount that will be paid in compensation and the number of customers to whom it will be paid has not been revealed. Countrywide disputes the AG’s stance that Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data indicates any prejudice on its behalf, but the corporation will pay $200,000 to the state to cover the costs of the investigation.