Hi -- Does anyone out there have any information on gender discrimination in mortgage lending? Research, newspaper articles, personal expereince... tales from the feild, anything?

-- Jeanette Bradley (jeanette@cra-nc.org), March 29, 2000

Answers

Sure have personal experience. It has been attempted on me 3 times. The first time, I was putting 50% down on a piece of property... it was supposed to be a 'no doc'... that's why I put so much down... had excellent credit... about 2/3's of the way thru the deal the lender required full documentation ( I was moving 3000 miles and had no choice but to comply). Second time, buying a second home... was smarter this time.... held my guns. It was not easy but I did get rate and terms promised, also got more grey hairs. Third time, just this week... equity line... excellent credit... top 2%, mega liquid reserves, have nearly 75% equity in home... bank had pursued me relentlessly to open an equity line of credit... when the terms got very good I agreed. Was told I was approved for $48K... then a few days later was told "you have to have a co-signer".... the bank people refused to give me a reason... (against ECOA regulations)... the refused to let me talk to the underwriter.... I was persistent, am quite knowledgeable about the law by now... turns out the underwriter cannot read a tax return.... mine is rather complex... his solution "she's a woman... I can get away with this" WRONG answer! The bank was within a hair of being sued in Federal Court. I sent in a shill ( a MAN, with the same situation) he was approved immediately. The evidence mounts... I had a little chat with the underwriter and VOILA my equity line was approved. Look up the Consumer Protection Agency on the Net.... lots of good information there. This underwriter should have talked to my grown sons before he tried this stunt.... Their favorite expression is "Don't fool around with the MOTHER". All in all things are better now for women and finance than they were when I was in my 20's. You will have a hard time believing this, but THEN single women could not buy a house, because they were not eligible mortgages. A woman's income was NEVER considered when applying for a home mortgage... reason "she'll just get pregnant and not be able to work"..... I was actually told this by an FHA lender. I will continue the 'good fight' for my daughters and grand daughters.... we shall not backslide.

-- Annie Simms (AnnieSimms@yahoo.com), July 03, 2001.