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GUEST: John Taylor, President & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition

A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has found that racial discrimination persists in the mortgage loan industry. Upon examining major metropolitan areas in the nation, the NCRC concluded that black and Latino minorities were disproportionately more likely to receive high-cost loans than whites. Based on 2005 data from the Federal Reserve the report also found that the highest disparity between minorities and whites existed in middle and upper income levels. For instance, middle to upper class blacks were found to be twice as likely to have high-rate loans. According to the NCRC, high-rate loans which start out low but climb higher over the course of eighteen months leave minority communities especially susceptible to foreclosures. As a result of the study’s findings the NCRC is calling on Congress to pass two key pieces of legislation to reform lending laws and end racial discrimination.

The report is available online at www.ncrc.org.