Poll Faults Banks on Minority Mortgages : Financing: Advocacy group’s survey adds fuel to the criticism as government prepares to toughen redlining laws.

Commercial banks in California generally did a poor job last year when it came to making home loans to minority groups, according to a survey scheduled to be released today by a housing advocacy group.

The survey, done by the Greenlining Coalition of San Francisco, comes at a time when federal banking regulators are about to toughen the government’s anti-redlining law, called the Community Reinvestment Act. A revision is due out as early as this week.

The survey contrasts the commercial banks’ performance with the record of Irvine-based American Savings Bank, a savings and loan association. In 1992, American Savings made 27% of its total home loans to Latinos, 4.3% to African Americans and 9% to Asian Americans.

In recent years, commercial banks have acknowledged their lending deficiencies to minority groups and, under pressure from regulators, begun programs to improve. But this and other surveys, combined with data collected under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, shows that the banks still have a long way to go.

Although Latinos represent 26% of the state’s population and 19% of homeowners, Bank of America made only 11.5% of its home loans to Latinos last year, according the survey.

The percentage of home loans to Latinos was 10.4% at Union Bank, and 5.6% at Wells Fargo last year. (The survey includes new loans only, not refinancings.)

African Americans fared even worse, the survey found. Representing 7% of the state’s population and 4.5% of homeowners, African Americans received 3.5% of home loans at Bank of America, 2.9% at Wells Fargo and 1.3% at First Interstate.

Bank of America made 9% of its mortgages to Asian Americans in 1992, a ratio that was equal to the group’s share of state population. Wells Fargo’s ratio of home loans to Asian Americans was 8.2% and First Interstate’s was 1.9%.

Banks generally defend their loan performances by saying they are relatively new to the mortgage lending business compared to savings and loans.

“We’re still figuring out how” to make mortgages, said Marci Mills, vice president and manager for CRA mortgage lending at Wells Fargo. She also pointed out that the bank has initiated minority loan outreach programs.

Gnaizda said American Savings has become a lending industry model in only four years, since it was acquired by Texas billionaire Robert Bass. Prior to that, the financial institution made relatively few loans to minorities, he said.