by Samuel González
Activistas contra la tortura gubernamental protestan frente a la Corte de Apelacines del 9o Circuito de SF, contra el Juez Jay Bybee, quien ayudó a diseñar maneras legales para elicitar la tortura contra la gente en Irak. (photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)
Hispanic and black consumers, thousands of whom were victims of predatory lending that locked homebuyers into unfairly high interest rates, would gain safeguards under a new White House proposal.
The creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, submitted by the administration to Congress June 15, would protect consumers from unfair lending practices and promote transparency and accountability by lenders.
If approved, it would eliminate some practices that contributed to the financial downturn, the administration says.
According to a Pew Hispanic Center study, Hispanics who borrowed in the subprime market paid annual rates 2.6 percent points higher on 30-year fixed-rate conventional mortgages. For blacks the average rate was 3.0 percent higher. on President Lack of credit education and predatory lending by financial institutions left low-income families unable to make their mortgage payments and facing foreclosure.
Center for Responsible Lending spokeswoman Kathleen Day told Weekly Report that nearly one in two Hispanics who applied for a loan at the height of the 1lending boom was given a subprime loan.
A survey by the National Council of LaRaza found, in addition to unsustainable mortgage payments, many Hispanics have become overly dependent upon credit cards and pay excessive rates 13 percent have cards Nawith interest rates above 20 percent, keeping them in cycles of debt, according to the NCLR report.
In other news:
By 2025 whites may become minorities on college campuses
Before the year 2025, students of color will outnumber whites on U.S. college campuses for the first time, a new report projects.
By 2021, white students will make up barely 52 percent of the nation’s college student population and two or three years later, they’ll be in the minority, Chronicle Research Services calculates. Its study, designed to help higher education institutions plan ahead, measures the ethnic and racial makeup of current high-school graduating classes plus factors such as likely population growth, refined recruitment, pedagogical changes and overall accessibility.
In 2021, annual Hispanic student enrollment is projected to increase over 2009 enrollment by 276,000 and for Asian/Pacific Islanders by 79,000, while dropping by 237,000 for white students and 44,000 for black students.
CRS’s 59-page report is the first of a three-part series on what higher education institutions will look like in the years ahead. It is based on reviews of research and data on trends in higher education and interviews with experts who are shaping tomorrow’s colleges.
A “2008 Measuring Up” report by Chronicle researchers found that overall 59 percent of white students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years of enrolling but only 47 percent of Hispanics, 41 percent of African Americans and 39°/0 of American Indian students accomplish the same thing.
The new report can be found at http://research.chronicle.com/reports.html. By Arlinda Arriaga. Reach her via e-mail at arriaga86@yahoo.com.
Blacks, Hispanics save less
LOS ANGELES — Blacks and Latinos accumulate less in their 401(k) plans than whites of similar income levels, and tend to invest conservatively, a study by Ariel Investments and Hewitt Associates shows.
Among people earning less than $30,000 a year, whites averaged $8,000 in their401 (k) accounts. Blacks and :Hispanics averaged about half that amount.
For those earning more than $120,000, whites averaged savings of $223,000, blacks $150,000 and Latinos $154,000.
The differences result from behaviors such as waiting too long to start investing, borrowing too much from 401(k) plans and avoiding stocks, it said.
Cuts hurt college chances
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of thousands of students are likely to be denied admission from low-cost community colleges across the country over the next year because of funding cuts at the same time that record numbers of students are turning to the open-admission schools, according to Ll.S. education officials.
The Obama Administration promises to aid the nation’s alonost 1,200 community colleges, which educate 12 million students, or 44°/0 of all undergraduates, including the majority of blacks and Hispanics. Hispanic Link.
