via AlterNet:
Posted by steved at 12:26 pm
May 13, 2010
Big Banks to Non-Whites: No Loans for YouThis post originally appeared on Booman Tribune.Why would minority communities get fewer mortgages than white communities since the financial crisis? What did you say? That couldn’t be true in our post-racial America. Well think again my white friends because that isn’t what Reuters is reporting this morning:
According to the study, prime lending in communities of color from 2006 when the foreclosure crisis began to 2008 — the most recent year for which data are available — decreased 60.3 percent compared to 28.4 percent in largely white areas.”The financial crisis has led to significantly reduced access to mortgage credit for all borrowers and communities,” the report states. “In neighborhoods of color, however, where the foreclosure crisis has taken an especially severe toll, access to prime, conventional mortgage loans has declined precipitously — to a much greater degree than in predominantly white neighborhoods.”
The report also examines the lending patterns of America’s four top banks: Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Wells Fargo.
While all four banking groups increased their prime refinance lending to white neighborhoods from 2006 to 2008, the report found that only Citigroup increased lending to minority communities — though by far less than to white areas.
The study conducted by a collaboration among seven non-profit advocacy groups looked at the housing markets in “Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, North Carolina, Cleveland, Ohio and Rochester, New York” for the years 2006-2008 (ie., from the beginnings of the housing crisis through the last year, 2008,for which data is available). Isn’t it interesting that new mortgages in white communities declined by 28.4% but new mortgages in minority communities declined by more than twice as much: 60.3%. Gee, I wonder why? ..............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/13/big-banks-to-non-whites-no-loans-for-you/