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- BUSINESS, Page 65Business NotesMORTGAGESThe Color Bias In Lending
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- Are members of minority groups routinely victimized by a
- deep-set bias in mortgage lending? They have long suspected so,
- and now they have a persuasive piece of evidence. In a study of
- 6.4 million loan applications at 9,300 lending institutions,
- the Federal Reserve Board found that blacks were turned down
- for loans twice as often as whites. Of 19 cities studied,
- Boston had the highest rejection rate for blacks: 34.9%, vs. 11%
- for whites. Houston had the highest rejection rate for
- Hispanics: 25.7%, vs. 13% for whites. The refusals were
- unbalanced for even government-backed mortgages, which require
- a lower down payment than conventional mortgages: 26.3% for
- blacks and 18.4% for Hispanics, vs. 12.1% for whites.
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- The Fed cautioned that the study was not detailed enough
- to prove outright discrimination. But the overall pattern was
- consistent enough to prompt several Washington lawmakers to call
- for new antidiscrimination bills.
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- Percent of conventional mortgages denied, 1990
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- Asians 12.9%
- Whites 14.4%
- Hispanics 21.4%
- Blacks 33.9%
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