Classifying Applicants for Fair Lending Analyses: What Do the Data Have to Say?

By Jason Dietrich

Testing for discrimination in mortgage lending requires classifying consumers into treatment groups and control groups. Although this may seem like a straightforward task, it is actually quite complicated. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, the primary source of data for these analyses, contain information on the ethnicity, race, and gender for both primary and coapplicants. In addition, applicants have the option of reporting up to five races. Using these detailed data to construct the standard groups, such as "Black," "Hispanic," and "White," requires subjective decisions on how to appropriately aggregate applications.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1505375614
• ISBN13: 9781505375619
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 74 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.5" x 11.0"