P.M. BRIEFING : Blacks’ Home Loans Rejected Twice as Often, Official Says

Blacks were rejected more than twice as often as whites for home loans in the first half of 1989, a Treasury Department official testified today.

From the second half of 1988 to the first half of 1989, the rejection rate for blacks rose from 23% to 29%, Jerauld C. Kluckman told a Senate Banking subcommittee.

During the same period, the rejection rate for whites rose from 11% to 13%, Kluckman told the subcommittee on consumer and regulatory affairs. The panel is examining discrimination in the mortgage lending industry.

Kluckman, director of compliance programs at the Office of Thrift Supervision, said the agency is “concerned about these changes.” However, he cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from the data.

“The differences in rejection rates, in and of themselves, do not indicate that savings associations are discriminating on a prohibited basis,” he said. For example, the data in their present state do not consider creditworthiness or the criteria set by lenders.

“The significance of the differences cannot be ignored but can only be explored and explained through vigorous field examinations that thoroughly analyze a given savings association’s policies, procedures, lending programs and criteria,” he said.