U.S. Lending Gap Little Changed, Study Says

U.S. lenders turned down more black and Latino borrowers for mortgages than whites last year at a rate comparable to 10 years ago, a study by a consumer group says.

This lending gap had narrowed from 1993 to 1998 but has grown in the last year despite historically low mortgage rates, according to the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Blacks were 2.2 times more likely than whites to be denied when applying for a conventional loan in 2003, the same as in 1993 and up from 1998, when blacks were 1.8 times more likely to be denied, the group said.

Latino borrowers were 1.6 times more likely than whites to be turned down in 2003, up from 1998, when Latinos were 1.4 times more likely to be denied, and a decline from 1993, when they were 1.7 times more likely to be denied, the study found.