Diversity and equality

How the pandemic is accelerating trends in financial advice and changing the way Americans manage their money.

Announced the day before the first federally recognized Juneteenth holiday, the Black Homeownership Collaborative has a seven-point initiative to improve upon racial equality in home buying in the next nine years.

The program, announced last October, looks to provide services to minority-owned banks and credit unions so they can increase homeownership rates in their communities.

Housing experts and advocates disagree on the biggest factor in advancing the Black homeownership rate — and that's part of the problem.

Nonprofits connecting Historically Black Colleges and Universities to mortgage career education courses seek to increase the number of Black professionals in the field, who in turn may help to increase homeownership among underserved populations.

Estimates suggest the government-sponsored enterprises did encourage increased lending to this demographic last year but ran into challenges related to the pandemic's impact and their own fluctuating business models.

The programs from the trade group are aimed at helping the bank improve its employee representation and workplace culture.

There is a persistent undersupply of moderately-priced homes, which continues to push affordability and the dream of homeownership further into the future for millions of potential first-time minority homeowners, writes the president of mortgage for Radian Group Inc.

The confirmation of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary presents an opportunity to restore the legacy of homeownership in America, something that for communities of color has long been out of reach, writes CBC Mortgage's Tai Christensen.

Even in the best-case scenario, it would take 45 years to achieve an equal amount of housing-related capital between Blacks and whites.

The lender will expand certain mortgage products, like its HomeRun program, which requires lower down payments and removes mortgage-insurance requirements for lower-income borrowers.

At the metro level, Buffalo, N.Y., had the worst undervaluation for Black-owned homes at 86% followed by 72% in both Memphis, Tenn., and Indianapolis, Redfin found.

“You all will not let me breathe” is just one example in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complaint database where a consumer likened alleged mistreatment by a financial institution to social injustice. An artificial intelligence firm uses technology to help companies flag such language.

There’s a 20 percentage-point gap between Black and white consumers who have the income necessary to qualify for a mortgage on a new median-priced home.

Efforts to improve representation in the workforce have to be measurable in order to avoid becoming an empty trend, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief financial officer and diversity & inclusion officer.

The $10 million program appears to be the first of its kind in the nation.

As global warming intensifies storms and flooding, formerly redlined neighborhoods with majority BIPOC occupants will likely bear the brunt of the damage risk, according to a Redfin analysis.

The agreement calls for the bank to pay $50,000 to an unnamed consumer and requires its staff to undergo fair lending training as it relates to appraisals.

New brands are emerging to improve banking services to targeted consumer segments, and Daylight is one intent on winning over the LGBTQ market. What are mainstream banks getting wrong that leaves an opening for niche brands like Daylight?