← Search

Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 27 No. 6 2003

Is there discrimination in mortgage pricing? The case of overages

Harold A. Black1; Thomas P. Boehm1; Ramon P. DeGennaro2,1

1 University of Tennessee at Knoxville · 2 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

open access

Abstract

Mortgage overage pricing is little understood by consumers and has received little academic scrutiny. We consider the impact of the market power of individual loan officers on overages paid by borrowers, particularly minorities. We include numerous borrower and lender characteristics unavailable previously. We find that minorities who purchase homes pay larger overages than whites, but our evidence suggests that this traces to differences in the pools of borrowers rather than to racial discrimination. We conclude that a more effective way to eliminate racial differences in overages is to increase minorities’ ability to bargain rather than to enact additional anti-discrimination laws.

DOI
10.1016/s0378-4266(02)00250-9
Volume
27
Issue
6
Pages
1139-1165
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib

Cite