Lexington-Fayette Urban County
Human Rights Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
April 5, 2023

CONTACT:   William Wharton, Executive Director        Ph: 859-252-4931
                       Kathy Riley, Community Relations Coordinator

HRC Publishes 1997 Analysis of Mortgage Lending Report

    Black home mortgage loan applicants were denied two to three times more often than white applicants at most lending institutions in Lexington-Fayette County.  According to the 1997 Analysis of Mortgage Lending Report released by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission today.

    The Commission study analyzes and reports lending trends, as reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), on an annual basis.  The study is a statistical analysis of the home mortgage lending practices of seven local lending institutions located in Lexington-Fayette County.

    The study found that the historical trend of higher mortgage loan approval percentages for white applicants continued in 1997.  On average, the white applicants’ approval rate was approximately 85% and white applicants’ approval percentages increased as white income levels increased.  Whites increased from 79% approval, at the less than 80% of the average median income category, to 90% approval, at the greater than 120% of the average median income category.   Black applicants received a lower approval percentage rate of 60% and the approval percentages for black applicants did not increase as income levels increased, as with white applicants.  Approval percentages for black applicants fluctuated in a random pattern.  Blacks not only started out with a lower approval percentage rate, but also, as income levels increased beyond the 99% of the average income category, approval percentages did not increase.  Regardless of income, the overall denial percentage for blacks remained at approximately 30%.  

    In addition, the study found that as the black population percentage increased in an area the number of white applicants and white approval percentages decreased.

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Last modified: 04 Sep 2022