Certain Minority Borrowers Paid More for Mortgages

"Nope, there's no need for regulation of financial markets, or for something like a consumer financial protection bureau:

" Justice Department Details Higher Rates Charged to Jewish Borrowers, by Janet Paskin, WSJ: At least 34,000 Jewish-American, Mormon-American and other minority borrowers paid more for their mortgages or were steered into subprime loans when they could have qualified for better rates, according to the Department of Justice. The DOJ settled a fair-lending lawsuit with Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, on Thursday.

" That adds up to real money – and, in some cases, real stress:

" As a result of being placed in a subprime loan, a Jewish-American or Mormon borrower… was subject to possible pre-payment penalties, increased risk of credit problems, default, and foreclosure, and the emotional distress that accompanies such economic stress.

" The complaint also says that between 2004 and 2008, “highly qualified prime retail and wholesale applicants for Wells Fargo residential mortgage loans were more than four times as likely to receive a subprime loan if they were Jewish-American and more than three times as likely if they were Mormon than if they were black.”

" During the same period, the complaint says, “borrowers with less favorable credit qualifications were more likely to receive prime loans if they were black than borrowers who were Jewish-American or Mormon.” ... Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million in settling similar charges in December. ..."

 

but isnt that the republican/libertarian ideal of a marketplace? charge what the market will bear. after all the minorities can shop somewhere else if they dont like it.

 

I'm in complete support of financial regulation. It's just that what we have now simply doesn't function either because it is woefully inept, or in collusion with the banks.

Part of my major beef with Obama was that all this hope and change promises from his campaign in 2008 was going to address this - which is why he got my vote. And he's done nothing to change anything. In fact, it's actually gotten worse.