wlm4 at cornell.edu (Will
08-11-1995, 05:15 PM
ATLANTA (AP) -- NationsBank Corp. denied home loans to African Americans at
least three times as often as it turned down white borrowers in Atlanta,
Baltimore, Dallas and Washington D.C., a Teamsters union study said
Thursday.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined the Teamsters in
accusing the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank of racism.
``That study ... indicates a continuing, ever-expanding pattern of
discrimination in denying loans to African-Americans,'' said the Rev.
Joseph Lowery, president of the SCLC.
NationsBank said the study is misleading because it does not reflect the
credit histories of potential borrowers. NationsBank is a leading bank in
each of the cities.
``Their numbers are focused solely on denial rates,'' said Cathy Bessant,
senior vice president for NationsBank's community investment program. ``We
think we're an excellent example of a leader in community development.''
The study by Patrick Bond, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, showed
that NationsBank denied loans to blacks in Atlanta 5.5 times more
frequently than whites.
In Baltimore, blacks were denied 4.6 times more often than whites. The
denial rate is three times as high for blacks in Dallas and 5.6 times as
high for blacks in Washington, D.C., the study said.
NationsBank is the country's third largest bank, with $184 billion in
assets.
ATLANTA (Reuter) - The Teamsters union Thursday called on the Justice
Department to investigate lending practices at NationsBank Corp., charging
the nation's third-largest banking company with bias against minority loan
applicants.
Union officials, flanked by black civil rights leaders, released a study
claiming to show wide discrepancies between loan approval rates for white
and minority customers at NationsBank branches in Atlanta, Baltimore,
Dallas and Washington, D.C.
The study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University Professor Patrick Bond,
also alleges that senior bank managers did not take sufficient steps to
address the problem once they became aware of it.
``The report contains information that we believe should catalyze a civil
rights inquiry,'' Teamsters President Ron Carey said in a letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno.
``It is ... important for the Justice Department to consider NationsBank a
target for potential prosecution under the Fair Housing and Equal Credit
Opportunity Acts.''
A spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company, which has
$184 billion in assets, dismissed the study as being flawed and based on
outdated information.
``We're out in front in increasing lending in both the minority markets as
well as low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods,'' said NationsBank
official Jan Boylston.
``At the end of the day, the real measure should be: is more credit being
infused into the communities. And it is.''
But Carey's assertion won backing from the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organisation founded in the 1950s by
Martin Luther King.
``We are not going to the Justice Department to put these banks out of
business. We want to go to the Justice Department so they can help us put
justice in business in the banks,'' said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the SCLC's
president.
``NationsBank has a larger grasp on the market than any other bank'' in
the South, he added.
A spokeswoman for the Teamsters said the study was prompted by an ongoing
labour dispute between the union and Borg-Warner Security Corp., which
provides security services for NationsBank.
The Teamsters represents 4,000 of the 6,000 employees at Pony Express, a
Borg-Warner trucking subsidiary, but the union claims management has been
unwilling to bargain in good faith.
Union officials also have asked the Atlanta organising committee for the
1996 Olympics not to allow Borg-Warner to provide security services at next
summer's Games.
The study's author, a former development specialist for the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said in his summary that NationsBank turned
out to be among the worst when it came to rejecting blacks for home loans
in the four cities.
In Atlanta, the study said, NationsBank denied black applicants at a rate
5.5 times higher than it did whites. The ratio stood at 4.6 in Baltimore,
3.0 in Dallas and 5.6 in Washington.
``Of greatest importance, this study demonstrates that the bank's racial
disparity in home-loan denials is greater among upper-income applicants ...
this appears to contradict NationsBank's claim that the large racial
disparities are attributable to income rather than race,'' the study
concluded.
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least three times as often as it turned down white borrowers in Atlanta,
Baltimore, Dallas and Washington D.C., a Teamsters union study said
Thursday.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined the Teamsters in
accusing the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank of racism.
``That study ... indicates a continuing, ever-expanding pattern of
discrimination in denying loans to African-Americans,'' said the Rev.
Joseph Lowery, president of the SCLC.
NationsBank said the study is misleading because it does not reflect the
credit histories of potential borrowers. NationsBank is a leading bank in
each of the cities.
``Their numbers are focused solely on denial rates,'' said Cathy Bessant,
senior vice president for NationsBank's community investment program. ``We
think we're an excellent example of a leader in community development.''
The study by Patrick Bond, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, showed
that NationsBank denied loans to blacks in Atlanta 5.5 times more
frequently than whites.
In Baltimore, blacks were denied 4.6 times more often than whites. The
denial rate is three times as high for blacks in Dallas and 5.6 times as
high for blacks in Washington, D.C., the study said.
NationsBank is the country's third largest bank, with $184 billion in
assets.
ATLANTA (Reuter) - The Teamsters union Thursday called on the Justice
Department to investigate lending practices at NationsBank Corp., charging
the nation's third-largest banking company with bias against minority loan
applicants.
Union officials, flanked by black civil rights leaders, released a study
claiming to show wide discrepancies between loan approval rates for white
and minority customers at NationsBank branches in Atlanta, Baltimore,
Dallas and Washington, D.C.
The study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University Professor Patrick Bond,
also alleges that senior bank managers did not take sufficient steps to
address the problem once they became aware of it.
``The report contains information that we believe should catalyze a civil
rights inquiry,'' Teamsters President Ron Carey said in a letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno.
``It is ... important for the Justice Department to consider NationsBank a
target for potential prosecution under the Fair Housing and Equal Credit
Opportunity Acts.''
A spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company, which has
$184 billion in assets, dismissed the study as being flawed and based on
outdated information.
``We're out in front in increasing lending in both the minority markets as
well as low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods,'' said NationsBank
official Jan Boylston.
``At the end of the day, the real measure should be: is more credit being
infused into the communities. And it is.''
But Carey's assertion won backing from the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organisation founded in the 1950s by
Martin Luther King.
``We are not going to the Justice Department to put these banks out of
business. We want to go to the Justice Department so they can help us put
justice in business in the banks,'' said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the SCLC's
president.
``NationsBank has a larger grasp on the market than any other bank'' in
the South, he added.
A spokeswoman for the Teamsters said the study was prompted by an ongoing
labour dispute between the union and Borg-Warner Security Corp., which
provides security services for NationsBank.
The Teamsters represents 4,000 of the 6,000 employees at Pony Express, a
Borg-Warner trucking subsidiary, but the union claims management has been
unwilling to bargain in good faith.
Union officials also have asked the Atlanta organising committee for the
1996 Olympics not to allow Borg-Warner to provide security services at next
summer's Games.
The study's author, a former development specialist for the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said in his summary that NationsBank turned
out to be among the worst when it came to rejecting blacks for home loans
in the four cities.
In Atlanta, the study said, NationsBank denied black applicants at a rate
5.5 times higher than it did whites. The ratio stood at 4.6 in Baltimore,
3.0 in Dallas and 5.6 in Washington.
``Of greatest importance, this study demonstrates that the bank's racial
disparity in home-loan denials is greater among upper-income applicants ...
this appears to contradict NationsBank's claim that the large racial
disparities are attributable to income rather than race,'' the study
concluded.
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