THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507130437
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Digest
LENGTH: Short : 27 lines
Minorities were less likely to be approved for mortgages than whites among applicants with shaky credit, according to a federal study released Wednesday. Whites with marginal credit were approved for loans 91 percent of the time, compared with 82 percent approval for black and Hispanic applicants with the same histories, the study found. Federal Reserve Senior Vice President William Hunter, who supervised the analysis of nearly 2,000 conventional loans in the Boston area in 1990, tied the results to a lack of cultural diversity among bank loan officers. The study found that race was not a significant factor for those with good credit records. Marginal applicants are defined as those with accounts two months past due. Other factors working against applicants with marginal credit include bankruptcy, self-employment and heavy indebtedness. Hunter's conclusions were based on data gathered by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. (Associated Press) by CNB