Despite the rise in African-American home ownership in the last decade, now there is a rise in home foreclosures for this same group. Many neighborhoods in Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta have experienced this sharp rise in foreclosures. There are a few likely causes for this rise. African-Americans are more likely to take out expensive, subpar loans and are more likely to fall victim of predatory lending. Many of these loans have lower interest rates for the first 3-5 years and then jump after that period.
Just when we thought The State of . . . African American homeownership was headed in a positive direction for the long term, now we know better. On our part, we have to become better educated about lending practices. On the governments, many states have already passed legislation against predatory lending practices. Ameriquest, the nation’s largest sub-prime lending company just settled a law suit for $295 million with about 49 states because of its lending practices. In other news, the company’s founder Roland Arnall, was named ambassador to the Netherlands by Bush just after the settlement. Arnall has been the largest campaign contributor to Bush since 2002. What was it that Kanye was saying again?
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