NCRC Cites Disparities in High-Cost Lending

Minority borrowers, regardless of income level, are more likely to receive high-cost home mortgage loans than other consumers, according to a new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. The report says minorities pay more for mortgages even as their incomes levels rise, and that loan price disparities (with white counterparts) were more common for middle- to upper-income African-American and Hispanic borrowers than for low- and moderate-income minority borrowers. For example, middle- and upper-income African-Americans were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans in 2006 as whites with similar income in 155 (71.4%) of the metropolitan areas analyzed, the NCRC said. In comparison, low- and moderate-income black borrowers were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as whites with similar income in 87 (47.3%) of the metro areas, according to the report. "The data reminds us that the current housing crisis was overwhelmingly the result of the explosion of bad loan products in financially vulnerable communities," said John Taylor, president and chief executive of the NCRC. "It is not surprising that foreclosures have been concentrated among African-Americans and Latinos, because predatory and problematic loans are more prevalent in those communities." The organization can be found online at http://www.ncrc.org.