Racial bias in mortgage lending

It should come as no surprise to anyone that despite laws against discrimination in lending and a few lawsuits, race still plays a role in the quality of loan a person gets. A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) shows that minority consumers, regardless of income level, are most at risk of receiving high-cost home mortgage loans, with the disparities greatest among middle and upper income African-Americans.

The NCRC examined subprime and near prime (“Alt-A”) loans from more than 219 metropolitan areas, as reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2006, the most recent publicly available data.

Guess who came in at number 2 on the list of cities with the greatest disparities?

The top 20 areas where overall racial disparities were most pronounced include (in ranked order):

1. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN
3. Huntsville, AL
4. Ann Arbor, MI
5. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
6. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
7. Greenville, NC
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. Essex County, MA
10. Durham, NC
11. Raleigh-Cary, NC
12. Dayton, OH
13. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
14. Fort Wayne, IN
15. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
16. Roanoke, VA
17. Rochester, NY
18. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
19. Lubbock, TX
20. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI