Women Pay More

A new study by the Consumer Federation of America found that in 2005, about a third of women took out mortgages with interest rates over 7.66 percent (above the average prime mortgage rate of 5.87 percent) compared with about a quarter of men. The study, which examined 4.4 million mortgage originations throughout the country, also found that women with high incomes were 46.4 percent more likely than men with comparable incomes to have the more expensive mortgages. Women earning less than an area’s median income were 8 percent more likely to receive subprime loans than similarly earning men, but women earning more than double an area’s median income were 50 more likely to receive subprime loans than men with similar earnings. California Mortgage Bankers Association spokesman Dustin Hobbs says that the study shows a difference but it doesn’t mean the lending industry has a bias against women, noting that it shows "a disparity but not why there is a disparity."

Source: Consumer Federation of America; Inside Bay Area, Eve Mitchell (12/08/06)

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