August 4th, 2007
Do you have good credit
Why do loan companies want to know your race. being credit worthy can be an issue for many black families. I am convinced the credit scores take into account one’s race. That is never a good thing when you are black.We often have to get started in life with little or no funds.God forbid if you forget to pay your Gap bill on time.
I have a bad attitude about the fairness in credit lending.True story, A smug white banker at CitiBank, rufused to allow me to open an account because of my credit score. I think this practice is no longer allowed, but there was a period of time when a bank would check your credit score prioe to allowing you to open an account.I had just cashed in some stock options and had a check for 400,000 dollars and some change.
I did not argue, but I felt if this young banker was going to let his feelings about race interfere with a 400,000 dollar desposit. I felt sorry for the bank. You will never convince me that if a white man with the same credit score and check amount, wanted to open the account, he would have had a problem. In fact, he would have been introduced to the highest ranking bank officier available and been made to feel of value.
I found a blog of interest on improving credit, check it out! Please excuse my poor spelling in this post, I wanted you to have this resourse and did not have a spell check on the computor I am using.
August 4th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I have utilized a service that was able to correct errors on my credit reports, called http://www.creditattorney.com.
I’d recommend the service to anyone who is recovering from previously bad credit.
My problem with credit ratings is that fat banks feed off of folks that have poor credit but can afford to buy things.
People are penalized for things that may have occurred because of a health issue, divorce, etc. Credit scores are a means for lending companies to squeeze more money out of the lower and middle class.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
“Credit scores are a means for lending companies to squeeze more money out of the lower and middle class.”
I agree with that 110%. And so the gap between rich and poor in this country grows ever wider.
There should be an epinions-like site that outs misbehaving banks and their racist staff. It’s an idea whose time has come.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Credit is one of the many areas in which Blacks are regularly discriminated against. Study after study proves it, but whites continue to deny it like they deny the effects of global warming. Deny, deny, deny!
It makes disgusted.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
My wife and I have good credit. I only have it because I’ve seen the effects of bad credit growing up in my family. It sucks when you need something. The banks are willing to give you the money, but the interest rate is so much higher and they know you’ll probably default on it anyway.
I was blessed to learn that lesson at an early age, so I didn’t fall into the trap. Credit scores can be biased and don’t take into situation other factors like illness or other factors where you were down on your luck.
But I still would have let you open up an account. That was a lot of money and dumb on the bank’s part.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Doug, thanks for the imput, I have had to corect several mistakes in credit
August 6th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Jo, thanks for the input!
August 6th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Esq, true to the word, that is the point of this post
August 6th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Theo, I have good credit as well and a long history of paying off bill early. The bank was concerned, not by my late gap payment of 19 dollars but, the fact a black man was trying to open an account of 400K. I just got a new car, my score was 720.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
When I was in France, my girlfriend wanted to open a checking account and deposit the proceeds from her student loan check ($5,000.00) in the bank. The bank insisted that she prove she had regular income of at least 150 euros per month, even though her student loan check was 30 times that amount.
After a series of bad experiences with that bank, we moved to another bank where we had less problems.
I once had a white friend who sold Fords automobiles. He told me quite frankly that as soon as customers came in the door, they knew what percentage above dealer invoice that customer would be charged, based on the skin-color and gender. White men paid least, followed by white women, Black men and Black women, who paid most.
After the finance companies set an interest rate for the loans, the salesman could increase the interest rate and thereby also increase his commission. The salesmen regularly increased the interest rate and commission for Black people more than whites, AFTER a base rate had been set by the finance company.
This practice was later confirmed when Ford was sued successfully over this.
August 7th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Esq, thank you for confirming my fears, we have so much to overcome, it is no wonder many people give up hope.We must continue to fight the fight in order to win in the end by any means neccesary.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
That’s crazy. What does a FICO score have to do with cash liquidity?
The banker’s attitude was probably more emotional jealously than pure hatred. White bankers hate seeing blacks with tons of money; sometimes more than they earn per year.
His salary was probably a fraction of your check, yet he felt the need to “checkmate” you.
That’s why I always bank with my own (Industrial Bank) first, then Bank of America 2nd.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Tarik,thanks for the comment.jealously is an emotion that is real and can come at you from several angles