One third of mortgage applicants turned down last year

Almost a third of all mortgage applicants in the last year were turned away, according to a report from the Federal Reserve released yesterday. The denial rate was up 29 percent from 2006, the year of the all-time high approval rate. The data also shows that the FHA insured more than 50 percent of loans to African-Americans and 45 percent of loans to Hispanic applicants, while 7 percent of white applicants were insured. According to a statement from the Mortgage Bankers Association, this discrepancy was not based on race but on the applicants’ credit scores and their down payments.