Women More Likely Than Men to Receive Subprime Mortgages....

Women represent nearly 40 percent of subprime borrowers, making it more difficult for women-led households to build wealth through homeownership, according to a recent study by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

Last year, 32 percent of women borrowers received mortgages with interest rates exceeding the average prime mortgage rate of 5.87 percent compared with 24.2 percent of men.

The study, which examined 4.4 million mortgage originations throughout the country where borrowers were identified by their gender, also found that more than one in 10 women received high-cost subprime loans with interest rates above 9.66 percent.

The disparity between the rate of subprime lending for men and women grows as income levels increase, according to the study. Women earning double the median income are 46.4 percent more likely to obtain a subprime mortgage than men with similar incomes.

"Evidence suggests that women have slightly higher credit scores on average than men and similar credit usage patterns, yet the fact that women are more likely to receive more expensive mortgages at all income levels undercuts the lending industries calm assurances that borrowers are priced based on their creditworthiness," said Allen Fishbein, CFA's director of housing and credit policy.

**Taken from the California Association of Realtors Bulletin, dated December 13, 2006.