By
Matthew R. Lee
SOUTH
BRONX NY,
April 5, 2014
-- In the
first study of
the
just-released
2013 mortgage
lending data,
Inner City
Press and Bronx-based
Fair
Finance Watch
have found
that high cost
loans and
disparities by
race
and ethnicity
in denials and
higher-cost
lending
continued at
the Big
Four banking
behemoths
Citigroup,
JPMorgan
Chase, Bank of
America and
Wells Fargo -
and spread to
US Bank,
M&T and
Capital One.
2013
is the tenth
year in which
the data
distinguishes
which loans
are
higher cost,
over a
federally-defined
rate spread of
1.5 percent
over
Treasury bill
yields.
The
just released
data show that
Wells Fargo
confined
African
Americans
to higher-cost
loans above
this rate
spread 2.01
times more
frequently
than whites in
2013, Fair
Finance Watch
has found.
Bank of
America also
had a 2.01
disparity
between
African
Americans and
whites; Citi
was 1.83 and
Chase 1.64.
Wells
was even more
disparate to
Latinos,
confined them
to higher-cost
loans above
the rate
spread 2.12
times more
frequently
than whites in
2013, the data
show.
Chase, too,
was more
disparate to
Latinos then
whites,
confined them
to higher-cost
loans above
the rate
spread 1.81
times more
frequently
than whites in
2013, versus a
1.64 disparate
for African
Americans.
Citi had a
higher denial
rate for
Latinos
(17.3%) than
for African
American
(17.1%).
"Even
after the
bailouts,
lending
disparities
grew worse and
not better,"
said Fair
Finance Watch.
"Regulatory
laxity, at
least on fair
lending, has
continued
despite the
financial
meltdown
caused by
predatory
lending. Given
the proposed
changes to the
housing
finance
system, these
disparities
must be
addressed."
At
Capital One,
now the fifth
largest bank,
African
Americans got
denied
for
HMDA-reported
loans 61.5% of
the time, and
Latinos 63.4%
of the
time.
At
M&T, whose
application to
acquire Hudson
City Savings
Bank Fair
Finance Watch
and NCRC have
opposed since
October 2012,
African
American were
confirmed to
high cost
loans 1.81
times more
frequently
than whites
in 2013, and
were denied
1.97 times
more
frequently
than whites.
"The
Federal
Reserve is
becoming more
and more
bank-friendly,
including
recently
saying it will
not re-open
its comment
period on
M&T -
Hudson despite
this new
data," Fair
Finance Watch
said.
Another
bank FFW has
challenged,
Mercantile in
Michigan,
cynically
provided
its data only
in paper form
so that it
could not be
analyzed. "It
remains
unclear if the
Consumer
Financial
Protection
Bureau will
get
to this
problem," Fair
Finance Watch
continued.
"The
disparities in
the 2013
mortgage data
of these banks
further
militate
for
aggressively
watchdogging
and breaking
up the big
banks."
And
so Fair
Finance Watch
and Inner City
Press have re-doubled
watchdogging.
Challenged by
the groups in
2014 and still
pending,
with FOIA
issues, are
applications
by
BancorpSouth,
Old National
and
US Bank to
acquire over
90 branches
from Royal
Bank of
Scotland.
On
that, Inner
City Press has
submitted a
Freedom of
Information
Act
request for
the entirety
of a largely
redacted /
black-out
response
by US Bank,
showing that
several RBS
products would
be dropped.
Now
that US Bank
has admitted
to the Federal
Reserve that
it would
eliminate
Charter One's
Credit Builder
and energy
efficiency
loan
programs, and
make it more
difficult for
the customers
it would
acquire to
avoid fees,
the Fed should
schedule
public
hearings. So
far, the
comment period
was re-opened
and extended
to April 25,
when
more analysis
will be
submitted.
The
Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act
required that
the 2013 data
be provided
by March 31,
following
March 1 joint
requests by
Fair Finance
Watch
and Inner City
Press. Some
banks did not
provide their
data by the
deadline,
despite
confirming
receipt of the
request.
Further
studies
will follow:
watch this
site.
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