Hispanics, Blacks said to pay more for mortgage
Associated Press
Sept. 9, 2006
Jeannine Aversa


WASHINGTON - Black and Hispanic home buyers pay more for their mortgages than do Whites, according to a Federal Reserve report released Friday.

The Fed's analysis of 2005 home lending data found that 54.7 percent of Black borrowers paid a higher-than-typical interest rate on home mortgages.
That was up sharply from 32.4 percent in 2004. For Hispanics, 46.1 percent paid more than typical last year, more than double the 20.3 percent reported in 2004.

In contrast, only 17.2 percent of Whites paid higher interest on their home mortgages last year. However, that was up considerably from 2004's 8.7 percent.

For all borrowers, there was a "significant increase" in the incidents of higher priced mortgages from 24.6 percent in 2005 compared with 11.5 percent in 2004.

A number of factors were cited for this overall increase. Mortgages rates in general were rising and rates for popular adjustable-rate mortgages in particular moved higher.

Some borrowers stretching to buy a home opted for creative financing, such as higher-priced piggyback loans. The use of piggyback loans shot up more than 57 percent in 2005 from the prior year, the Fed said.

"Indeed, the increase in the number of higher-priced piggyback loans in 2005 accounted for more than half of the increase in the number of all higher-priced loans," the report said.

The report also said that Black borrowers applying for mortgages were more likely to be turned down than Hispanics and Whites.

The Fed's report is based on information from 8,848 financial institutions.