WASHINGTON (AFP) -
US mortgage lenders targeted minorities and people with low incomes in recent years as the "best candidates" for subprime home loans, with devastating economic consequences, a report claimed Tuesday.
The report by the United for a Fair Economy (UFE) advocacy group said
subprime mortgages, home loans issued to Americans with scant finances,
were "ruthlessly hawked" and that a "solid majority of subprime loan
recipients were people of color."
"We believe this represents the greatest loss of wealth for people of
color in recent US history," the UFE said, saying America was entering
an economic downturn that could match the Great Depression.
The administration of US President George W. Bush
is mulling remedies to bolster the economy after brokering a vast
mortgage relief plan last month aimed at helping up to 1.2 million
distressed homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080115/lf_afp/uspropertyfinanceminority;_y...
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/documents/ecoa2000.htm
US mortgage lenders targeted minorities and people with low incomes in recent years
Each and every one of whom was free to decline the lender's generous offer. Who forced these people to sign the paper?
Wow. I'm going to read in detail. If anybody else finds anything else like that would you post a link here? I'd say that the onus lays more on Congress than the President. He writes no legislation - Congress does.
And it's late in the game now - these predators have rocked the global market at this point and we haven't seen anything near the bottom of the slide. batten down the hatches.
LCBM, the link you provided is great! In 2000, the DOJ reported 5 referrals of unfair lending practices from federal regulatory agencies, down from a high of 25 in 1997. There were 10 in 2001, 42 in 2002, 29 in 2003, 47 in 2004, and 38 in 2005. The vast majority of those from 2001 onward were from the FDIC and were ignored by the DOJ. I can tell from your moniker you have a wide stance on this issue. Also, MadJack, a lender can immediately tell from a person's credit score whether or not they should let them get a mortgage. They targeted people who had no business being able to obtain a loan so they could continue to sell their mortgages off to foreign investors and make fat commissions. Their unmitigated greed did them in. The sad thing is, the CEO's of these lenders will face no repercussions for their actions. Just multi-million dollar severances.
You said "They targeted people who had no business being able to obtain a loan so they could continue to sell their mortgages off to foreign investors and make fat commissions"
I submit the reason that mortgage companies WERE FORCED to target minorities and low income people is because IF THE MORTGAGE COMPANIES DID NOT GIVE LOANS TO MINORITIES, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SUED BY THE DOJ.
What we are seeing in this "sub-prime predatory lending" is a direct result of the Government getting involved in business and FORCING predatory practices and a relaxing of credit standards for minorities..
Libs,
Are you actually saying that multi-billion dollar banks, with thousands upon thousands of lawyers and lobbyists at their disposal, were forced to hand out hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to people they knew would never be able to pay them back? And they did it because they were afraid of...Alberto Gonzales!?
relaxed any credit standards for me.