African Americans and obtaining home loan.?

Question

A co-worker of mine stated she used to work for a bank a few years ago and saw how african americans were often discriminated against. She stated African Americans customers were always given higher interest rate as well as given a hard time for obtaining a mortgage. I went through a similar situation last year. There were 2 items on my credit report that I paid off 4 years ago and since then my credit has been good. I applied for a home loan and was told by the loan officer I was fine and she would run it by her supervisor. The next day, she called me and stated that her supervisor said I was disapproved. I asked her why and she said the bank wanted to see a longer period of time of on time payments. Honestly, I don't believe it. I have been on my job for 8 years and have no other major debt other than students which are paid on time. Are there any other options for me because I have worked hard to clean up my credit (clean for 4 years now) and I still can't get a home loan.

Answer 1

The thing with major banks (Regions, Bank of America, etc.) are that a lot of times their guidelines are way stricter than if you were to go to a mortgage company. At major banks your credit scores have to be higher,employment history has to be longer, need more credit history etc. Most mortgage companies only need 2 years employment history,two years rentals history,12 months positive credit history. A friend of mine use to work for a bank in the mortgage department and I work for a mortgage company she would send me scores ranging from 595-650 because her bank wouldn't be able to get them approved and I would turn around and get them approved for 100% loans. Most banks only will deal with people with really good credit and excellent payment history. So should probably try a mortgage company. Mortgage companies deal with a lot of different banks/lenders who criteria for home loans and are not as strict as major banks. Good Luck !

Answer 2

Just b/c you are turned down for a loan (regardless of what the first person tells you) I would doubt you are being discriminated against. I'm not going to stand here and say that never happens - but I work in an office where we only get paid if we get mortgages for our customer. While I'm not going to put up with someone abusing me verbally or physically, short of that I don't have any policies for who I do business with - nor do any of the other loan originators I have ever met.

Deal with a mortgage broker. If many of them cannot get you approved, you are not qualified. I know there are MANY minorities in the business. If that makes you more comfortable, go for it. Whatever you do - shop around.

Banks are reputably the most cautious lending institutions around. While some will have more flexibility - most will do what is called a conforming loans. Either your credit score or history amongst other things will keep you from getting qualififed.

I just can't imagine anyone having so much business in todays market that they will NOT give people loans. Higher interest rates are generally determined by someones credit worthiness.

Again, your main protection is to shop around. I've worked for several different lenders and it IS a competitive market. Get a quote and take it to other people.

Some people out there WILL charge higher interest rates, however, I believe that more often than not it is b/c their customers don't try and shop the rate/deal. AND rate is NOT the only thing that matters.

Get more than one recommendation from Realtors - Closing Companies local to you of good, honest mortgage brokers - I know some people believe they don't exist - but that truly is just a few bad apples.

Best of luck and if you feel like you are getting slighted - post additional details of your deal here!

Good Luck!

Joe...

Answer 3

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibits credit discrimination on the basis of sex, race, marital status, religion, national origin, age, or receipt of public assistance. Creditors may ask for this information (except religion) in certain situations, but they may not use it to discriminate against you when deciding whether to grant you credit (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/crdright.htm).

Personally, I have worked for two mortgage banks (one of them a large national bank), and did not witness the type of discrimination you describe. However, I'm not saying it doesn't exist - perhaps it does, I don't know. But keep in mind that often the loan underwriter does not even see the customer and they don't know or care what color the customer is. The loan officer probably overstepped her authority when she said your loan package was fine -- most loan officers are not the ones evaluating the loan package -- that is the job of a loan underwriter. In any case, if you follow the link I provided above, you have the right to know why you've been denied credit - if it based on a credit report, the bank must provide the name of the credit reporting agency.

Keep trying. I suggest you become familiar with your credit report, as well as your credit score. Bankrate.com is a good place to start.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Get a Realtor. Realtors work with home buyers for free. Usually you will have to pay off all of your collections but your accounts in good standing will be favorable. Also do not make any payments late from this point on I don't care what kind of bill it is. One thing I am concerned about is your income. You have to have a good debt to income ratio. It seems like you have a lot of high priced items that you are paying on and I can see this being an issue. Also do you know what your credit score is? If your credit score is at least 600 and above you shouldn't have any problems getting a mortgage but with your debt and income you may not qualify for a big mortgage. Another thing you have to take into consideration is the addition expense a home will cost. You have to pay all your utilities, hire a trash removal company, home owners insurance, maintenance, home owners association fees, closing cost involved with buying a home, down payment, and also you will need to maintain certain amount of money in your checking account while going through the home buying process this just lenders know you are able to maintain your bills and still have savings.

Answer 5

On reading this my first reaction was that you may be someone who looks for prejudice, and if none is seen, looks harder, until some trace of it is found. Perhaps that seems unfair, but I happened to encounter two such people today.

It is certainly unrealistic to say, or even suggest, that the personnel of all banks are colour blind, but, in this case, the supervisor who made the decision apparently did not even see you, and made an assessment based on the documents presented by the loan officer, not on your colour.

Your best bet would be to ask for an appointment with the supervisor, and then discuss it with him/her directly. If that still does not work, do not be afraid to demand that you speak to the bank manager.

You could, if these fail, try another bank, but it is likely the next one would ask if you have applied elsewhere so, before going there, you should ask the first manager exactly what they would like to see, and how would you go about meeting that desire/requirement.



Before doing either of these, make copies of your documents and any credit records and have them with you.

You could also ask for a credit bureau report, so that you know exactly what is on it.

Answer 6

sorry my dear lady, in financial transactions like, personal, home and or car loans, the race it is not a factor, it is your credit report and your income, or if you have a co-signer (it doesn't matter his race but his financial situation)....your bad credit will follow you for at least seven years or more if the financial institution you owed money still pursue collection, loans of any kind to risky individuals are higher and that it is legal , that's the price you have to pay for non pay or late payments, I was born in mexico and the one thing I knew all along was ," do not mess with other people money", I have a perfect credit , I'm not rich, work hard as you and wherever I go the doors are open, for only one reason,....I have an excellent credit history.....and will try to keep it that way as long as I can.
you doing the right thing, do not use race as excuse and keep working hard on cleaning up your credit history, once you you do that , people will treat you diferent.

Answer 7

I not sure how they would know your race. But, I am white and had the same trouble. It sounds like your credit might be clean, but there is no history. You are sort of forced to have credit in this country. Race has nothing to do with it. If you cleaned it up 4 years ago, but had no other credit payments to make you have no record of being able to make your payments on time.

What was your score? What you are describing, with actual history should be well over 700. When I had this issue it was nothing at all, "not enough data to calculate".

Answer 8

You need to work with REALTORS and the loan brokers that they refer you to.

Needless to say any such discrimination is completely illegal. So you have recourse if you care to defend yourself.

Visit www.hud.gov real all about buying and first time financing.

If it helps you at all, people of all colors are discriminated against with regard to financing. The less they know the more they pay. so you must use a seasoned, licensed, Realtor. You must let them tell you where to obtain your financing. You must do your own homework with sites like HUD.

Real estate lending is a dicey path when you have credit problems. You can buy and I'm sure you will soon. But you must be prepared and go about things in such a way as to be sure of your success.

I am so sorry to hear that you have been having a hard time.
Please check out what I have recommended. Then stay in touch with me if you'd like. I can be of some help to you. Just let me know if you have questions.

Best of luck,

Answer 9

There usually are government agencies that monitor whether you have been discriminated against by a bank.

There is a prediction that the market is going to be flooded with homes due to people defaulting on "creative loans", so you should have trouble soon. But don't settle for unreasonable interest rates, conditions or fees.

Answer 10

A negative credit report can follow you for several years. Give it another year and try again, or check into various lending agencies for mortgages, making sure the interest rate is not above 6% or 7%. Try www.lendingtree.com