ACORN: Lending Discrimination Persists

A new study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now shows a persistence in lending discrimination against minorities.The study found that nationally, even upper-income African-Americans -- families earning 120% or more of the metropolitan area's median income -- were 2.6 times more likely to be turned down by a lender than upper-income whites. The report analyzed data from 120 metropolitan areas in 2003, 1998, and 1993. Findings indicate that by 2003, earlier gains in lending to minorities and lower-income people in the 1993-1998 period were lost, ACORN said. Lending denial rates for African-American applicants in 2003 were back at the same level as in 1993, and higher than in 1998, when African-Americans were 1.8 times more likely to be denied than their white counterparts. The same pattern is visible among Latinos. Even though denial rates were slightly lower in 2003 than in 1993, when Latinos were 1.7 times more likely to be denied, the rates were still higher than in 1998, when Latinos were 1.4 times more likely to be denied housing loans, ACORN reported.