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Many Minorities Avoid Seeking Credit Due to Generations of Discrimination. Why That Keeps Them Back.

Many Minorities Avoid Seeking Credit Due to Generations of Discrimination. Why That Keeps Them Back.

The following is excerpted from a CNBC article by EHRP contributing editor Lori Teresa Yearwood.

For many minorities in America, it’s an all too familiar scene.

An applicant who is a person of color and and applies for credit is either denied or gets much worse terms than a white borrower.

In fact, an investigation by the National Fair Housing Alliance, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, found that 60% of the time, applicants who were people of color — and way more financially qualified than their white counterparts —nevertheless were offered higher-priced car loans, costing them an extra $2,662 each over the course of the loan.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined forces in May to introduce the Loan Shark Prevention Act to “combat the predatory lending practices of America’s big banks and protect consumers already burdened with exorbitant credit-card interest rates.”

The legislation would cap interest rates at 15%, likely benefiting many consumers of color.

 

Read the full report on CNBC.com.

Save An Endangered Species: Journalists

Lori Teresa Yearwood's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Slate, and many other publications. Additionally, Ms. Yearwood speaks nationwide about the intersection of trauma-aware journalism and the well-being of our communities. In 2022, Ms. Yearwood received two prestigious fellowships: one from Poynter Institute fellowship at Yale, and another at the USC Annenberg Health Foundation. She is currently working on her memoir.

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