The share of mortgage lending to minority borrowers fell to at least a 14-year low as U.S. regulators struggle to ease credit to blacks and Hispanics shut out of the housing recovery.
These borrowers, whose share of the purchase mortgage market has been shrinking since the collapse of subprime lending, continued to lose ground to white borrowers through 2013, according to federal data released this week. Blacks and Hispanics were a smaller portion of borrowers last year than they were in 2000, before the housing bubble.
Minorities, who tend to have less savings and lower credit scores than whites, have been hit hardest by lenders who are giving mortgages only to the strongest borrowers. Fair-lending advocates and civil-rights groups are urging the government to create new loan products and change how creditworthiness is determined to give blacks and Hispanics greater access to one of the best vehicles for building wealth.
“These numbers are a wake-up call that the housing market is a major driver of the economy and it can’t be a vibrant market when so many new households are excluded from it,” said Jim Carr, a former Fannie Mae executive who is now a scholar at the Opportunity Agenda, a New York-based organization that works on racial equity issues.
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Yeah, it was a vibrant market when banks were selling loans that people couldn't pay off, then forfeited their houses.
ReplyDeleteHey - the market matches reality....minorities are at the highest unemployed.
ReplyDeleteRemember what happened last time we gave loans to those that weren't qualified?
Just like a lot of other places - affirmative action is coming back to haunt all of us!
credit scores and credit history DO NOT, in any way, reflect race.
ReplyDeleteIf you have lived a life of lying cheating and stealing, run up student loans and take every credit card offer sent to you (then run it up to the max and have you 5 year old kid answer the phone with 'mommy ain't here'), don't whine that no one wants to be the next dummy to loan you money.
Being black, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever, does NOT bestow upon you the PRIVILEDGE of homeownership.
That is something you ---- wait for it -- EARN.
I don't care if you're purple; if you have low scores and a dismal credit history, you don't deserve a mortgage, period.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to go through a time of counseling to see how to make Good changes to strengthen your scores and credit habits, fine. Then you have proved yourself and can go forth with a mortgage.
The government needs to Stay OUT of this business. They screw everything up. Again; color has nothing to do with credit scores.