U.S. Lending Gap Little Changed vs Decade Ago

NEW YORK – U.S. lenders turned down more black and Hispanic borrowers for mortgages than white borrowers last year at a rate comparable to 10 years ago, according to a study released on Thursday by a consumer advocate group.

This lending gap had narrowed from 1993 to 1998, but has worsened in the past year despite historically low mortgage rates, according to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

“Although lending to minorities and lower income families has increased, it is still at low levels compared with their share of the population and the quality of these loans has changed,” the group said in a statement.

Nationally, blacks were 2.2 times more likely than whites to be denied when applying for a conventional loan in 2003, the same as in 1993 and up from 1998 when blacks were 1.8 times more likely than whites to be denied, ACORN said.

During the same period, Hispanic borrowers were 1.6 times more likely than whites to be turned down for a conventional mortgage in 2008, up from 1998 when Hispanics were 1.4 times more likely to be denied and a decline from 1993 when they were 1.7 times more likely to be denied, ACORN study found.

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