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Racial dispersion in consumer credit interest rates

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  • Wendy Edelberg

Abstract

Most of the literature exploring racial disparities in consumer credit markets focuses on the issue of access to loans. But the disparate terms on which loans are issued are equally revealing. In this paper, I examine disparities in a variety of consumer loan interest rates using a reduced-form framework. I find that interest rates on loans issued before the 1995 show a statistically significant degree of unexplained racial heterogeneity even after controlling for the financial costs of issuing debt. However, racial dispersion in rates falls off for loans originated after 1995. ; The unexplainable racial disparity in consumer loan rates issued before 1995 implies that in this earlier period minorities faced unaccountably higher interest-rate premiums on the order of--in two examples--20 basis points for first mortgages and 80 basis points for automobile loans. Overall, evidence of unexplainable racial dispersion in interest rates is more robust among homeowners than renters.

Suggested Citation

  • Wendy Edelberg, 2007. "Racial dispersion in consumer credit interest rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-28, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2007-28
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Song Han, 2001. "On the Economics of Discrimination in Credit Markets," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-02, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Edelberg, Wendy, 2006. "Risk-based pricing of interest rates for consumer loans," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 2283-2298, November.
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    12. Geoffrey M. B. Tootell, 1996. "Redlining in Boston: Do Mortgage Lenders Discriminate Against Neighborhoods?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1049-1079.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hero Ashman & Seth Neumuller, 2020. "Can Income Differences Explain the Racial Wealth Gap: A Quantitative Analysis," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 220-239, January.
    2. Ethan Cohen-Cole, 2008. "Credit card redlining," Supervisory Research and Analysis Working Papers QAU08-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    3. Ryan M. Goodstein & Alicia Lloro & Sherrie L.W. Rhine & Jeffrey M. Weinstein, 2021. "What accounts for racial and ethnic differences in credit use?," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 389-416, June.
    4. Albareto, G. & Mistrulli, P.E., 2010. "Bridging the gap between migrants and the banking system," MPRA Paper 26476, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    Keywords

    Discrimination in consumer credit;

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