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Borrowing While Black: Applying Fair Lending Laws to Risk-Based Mortgage Pricing
Author: Professor Alan M. White
Published: 60 S.C. L. Rev. 677 (2009) In the current United States mortgage loan market, the predominant fair lending issue is no longer denial of loan applications; it is instead the fact that minority homeowners pay much more in interest rates and are much more likely to get risky subprime mortgages that lead to foreclosure. Professor White’s article explores whether lenders have used different pricing structures, business channels, and product groups to funnel minority borrowers into riskier subprime mortgages. White advocates for application of fair lending laws to price discrimination using a disparate impact test that takes account of lender steering of minorities into different products, lender delegation of pricing discretion to brokers, and lender use of risk-based pricing of dubious validity that may not accurately reflect credit risk and costs.
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