摘要：On December 5, New York State¡¯s attorney general announced
that his office had reached an agreement with
Countrywide Home Loans to settle accusations of biased
lending practices. The settlement stems from an investigation
into the mortgage lender¡¯s loans to black and Latino
customers in New York in 2004. According to Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, black and Latino customers
were more likely than white customers to receive
high-priced loans. The attorney general considered the
degree to which legitimate factors, such as borrower credit
scores and outstanding debt, increased the loan prices and
determined that these factors did not completely explain
the higher costs. Furthermore, the difference between
loans to whites and loans to minorities was pronounced
when loans were generated by mortgage brokers.
