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Color and credit: Race, regulation, and the quality of financial services

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  • Begley, Taylor A.
  • Purnanandam, Amiyatosh

Abstract

The incidence of misselling, fraud, and poor customer service by retail banks is significantly higher in areas with higher proportions of poor and minority borrowers and in areas where government regulation promotes an increased quantity of lending. Specifically, low-to-moderate-income (LMI) areas targeted by the Community Reinvestment Act have significantly worse outcomes, and this effect is larger for LMI areas with a high-minority population share. The results highlight an unintended adverse consequence of such quantity-focused regulations on the quality of credit to lower-income and minority customers.

Suggested Citation

  • Begley, Taylor A. & Purnanandam, Amiyatosh, 2021. "Color and credit: Race, regulation, and the quality of financial services," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 48-65.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:141:y:2021:i:1:p:48-65
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.03.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sabrina T. Howell & Theresa Kuchler & David Snitkof & Johannes Stroebel & Jun Wong, 2021. "Lender Automation and Racial Disparities in Credit Access," NBER Working Papers 29364, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Panagiotis Avramidis & George Pennacchi & Konstantinos Serfes & Kejia Wu, 2022. "The Role of Regulation and Bank Competition in Small Firm Financing: Evidence from the Community Reinvestment Act," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(8), pages 2301-2340, December.
    3. Abhi Bhattacharya, 2023. "Consumer, bank, and stock market reaction to CFPB’s complaint data disclosure," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 128-145, March.
    4. Ahmet Degerli & Jing Wang, 2022. "The Rise of Nonbanks and the Quality of Financial Services: Evidence from Consumer Complaints," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-059, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. J. Michael Collins & Jeff Larrimore & Carly Urban, 2021. "Does Access to Bank Accounts as a Minor Improve Financial Capability? Evidence from Minor Bank Account Laws," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-075, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Sabrina T. Howell & Theresa Kuchler & David Snitkof & Johannes Stroebel & Jun Wong, 2021. "Racial Disparities in Access to Small Business Credit: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," CESifo Working Paper Series 9345, CESifo.
    7. Xudong An & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Ross Levine & Raluca Roman, 2023. "Social Capital and Mortgages," Working Papers 23-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. Bin Wei & Feng Zhao, 2022. "Racial Disparities in Mortgage Lending: New Evidence Based on Processing Time," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2022-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    9. Allen N. Berger & Maryann P. Feldman & W. Scott Langford & Raluca Roman, 2023. ""Let Us Put Our Moneys Together": Minority-Owned Banks and Resilience to Crises," Working Papers 23-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product quality; Discrimination; Regulation; Consumer protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

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