Report: subprime lenders targeted minority neighborhoods

A new report says that some subprime lenders that were bankrupted by the subprime mortgage meltdown targeted minority neighborhoods, where high-risk loans made up 20 percent of all loans, compared to 4 percent in predominantly white areas. “These high risk lenders were targeting their loans to particular neighborhoods — to communities of color,” said Saara Nifici of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project in New York. “That’s where they focused their marketing practices.” She said the lenders also targeted middle-class minority neighborhoods like the African- and Caribbean-American areas of southeast Queens in New York. Lenders named in the report included New Century Mortgage Corp., WMC Mortgage Corp., Fremont Investment & Loan and Argent Mortgage Co.