Mortgage Loans

10/23/2013

Redlining

Redlining is considered discriminatory and prohibited by the ECOA.[1] Redlining refers to the actual or figurative act of drawing red lines around certain areas of a city to exclude unfavorable areas for home or commercial loans. If a borrower wished to obtain a loan secured by property contained within the red lines, he or she would be denied or given onerous loan terms unrelated to the applicant’s ability to repay. For example an area that is predominantly on racial component, or high crime rates, or happens to be next to the mosque... a mortgage loan might be more expensive rate or unavailable. The FDIC referred to this practice as “destructive, morally repugnant, and against the law.”[2]

[1] Hillier, Amy. “Redlining in Philadelphia.” http://cml.upenn.edu/redlining/.

[2] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Policy Statement on Discriminatory Lending. 59 Fed. Reg. 18267, Apr. 15, 1994.

In recent history, lenders attempted to implement a practice known as reverse redlining. This practice targets credit consumers once thought to be undesirable loan candidates and offers exploitative sub-prime home loan products calculated to deplete the applicant’s wealth. Reverse redlining targets racial minorities, elderly, immigrant and other vulnerable populations by extending oppressive lending terms likely to result in default and foreclosure. Instead of offering access to credit to communities once excluded due to redlining, reverse redlining directly targets these groups, reduces urban growth and further adds to the problem of inner-city property declination.[1]

[1] Squires, Gregory D. Predatory Lending: Redlining in Reverse. Jan/Feb 2005. http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/139/redlining.html.

Foreign National Mortgage

C G Barbeau Caroline Gerardo the loan lady contact NMLS#324982

Foreign National having trouble getting a mortgage loan in the United States?
We can do them but first you might want to establish an ITIN number with the IRS and open two secured credit cards in the United States with a bank that operates in the state where you would like to purchase property.
Link how to:
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Individual-Taxpayer-Identification-Number-(ITIN)

The reason Foreign Nationals would want to do this is it establishes credit in America. If you are Canadian citizen, you will only have a Beacon score. The mortgage interest rate on loans in the United States is built from your credit score.

If you are a citizen of another country you can develop an international credit report from aa minimum of four trade lines from your home country, but the FICO score won't be high.

Want to purchase rental or investment properties in California?

Let's talk.

10/22/2013

What is ECOA and Regulation B for Mortgage

• Discriminatory lending practices that Congress sought to discourage by adopting ECOA

• The broad scope of ECOA and its implementing regulations, Regulation B

• The complex division of regulatory and enforcement responsibilities between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal banking agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice

• Requirements that creditors must meet when taking applications from credit applicants and prohibited practices during the credit application process, such as discouragement

• Information that creditors may and may not request about a credit applicant’s spouse and how certain types of credit transactions determine the scope of these limitations

• Prohibited considerations that creditors may not use and assumptions that they may not make when evaluating credit applicants

• Prohibited practices when extending credit

• Exceptions to ECOA prohibitions when extending credit to underserved consumers through special credit programs

• Disclosure and notice requirements

• Incentives that ECOA creates for self-testing to identify and correct discriminatory practices

• The interaction of state and federal laws against discriminatory practices in offering credit to consumers

• In 1974, Congress enacted the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to eliminate discriminatory treatment of credit applicants (15 U.S.C. Section 1691). ECOA is located in Title 15 of the United States Code under Title VII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The primary reason for the enactment of ECOA was anecdotal evidence that women were not treated on an equal basis with men when applying for credit. This discriminatory treatment extended to transactions in which women applied for loans to purchase homes. Before ECOA made it illegal for creditors to use discriminatory practices in the extension of credit, women, including those who earned their own incomes or who functioned as the primary breadwinners for their families, could not secure credit without asking their husbands or male relatives to cosign their applications.

One practice that witnesses reported during Congressional hearings that preceded the enactment of ECOA “…was something called ‘income discounting’; that is, when a lender would devalue a woman’s income when she applied for a loan based on the assumption that women were unlikely to remain in the workforce.” [1] Even when married couples completed joint applications for credit, such as applications for home loans, the income of a working wife was devalued or even disregarded unless the couple wrote a “baby letter,” stating that they were incapable of having children or that they were using birth control.

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[1] Cyr, Maureen. “Gender, Maternity Leave, and Home Financing: A Critical Analysis of Mortgage Lending Discrimination Against Pregnant Women.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change. https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/jlasc/articles/volume15/issue1/Cyr15U.Pa.J.L.&Soc.Change(2011)109.pdf