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The lawsuits are just the latest in the list of dozen other suits brought by the NAACP over this same issue. Wells Fargo and HSBCare being accused of steering black borrowers into subprime loans with much higher rates.
Amara Weaver says she did not find out until she was signing the mortgage that her rate had jumped from 6 and a half to 11 percent.
"I had contractors in place, I had already put out some additional monies in order to get the place renovated so I was kind of stuck," Weaver said.
The lawsuits filed by the NAACP say it happens all the time.
"In most occasions an African American is three to five times more likely to get put into a subprime loan than their exact identical white counterpart," NAACP attorney Brian Kabateck said.
Kabateck says it is not just the organization's statistics he is citing.
A 2006 study by the non-profit Center for Responsible Lending found African Americans were 31-34 percent more likely to receive high rate subprime loans, the Federal Reserve board found African Americans are more likely to pay high prices for mortgages and the United States inspector general found significant differences between mortgages for African American borrowers, compared to their white counterparts.
"The federal government, even under the Bush administration, made the same findings," Kabateck said.
The NAACP claims the problem is concentrated in large metropolitan areas, like the Bay Area.
"Redlining, still alive, kicking and doing well in inner city and urban communities," the Rev. Amos Brown said. Brown is president of the local NAACP chapter and a member of the organization's national board.
Brown is pastor of the Third Baptist Church, which has a $900,000 mortgage with Wells Fargo.
The bank, headquartered in San Francisco, issued a statement saying the NAACP's allegations are totally unfounded and reckless and that, "we have never tolerated and will never tolerate discrimination in any way shape or form."
>> Read Wells Fargo's full response to the NAACP lawsuits.
HSBC declined to comment on the lawsuit but issued a statement saying, "HSBC stands by its fair lending and consumer protection practices and we are confident that we are treating our customers fairly and with integrity."
The lawsuits are not asking for money; the NAACP says it wants the discrimination to stop and access to the books to make sure the lenders are complying.
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