What We Know About Mortgage
Lending Discrimination In America

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Felicity Skidmore for her many contributions to both the design and the synthesis of this research project. She has been a source of both intellectual insight and common sense at every stage of our work, helping us organize and rationalize findings from its various components, and drafting major portions of this report. George Galster also made valuable contributions as adviser and reviewer for all phases of the project, and has helped ensure the technical quality and integrity of our work.

We also thank four individuals who reviewed draft versions of the analyses upon which this report is based. Kathy Cloud, of the National Fair Housing Alliance, reviewed our re-analysis of paired testing data; Anthony Yezer, of the George Washington University and Geoffrey Tootell, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, provided valuable comments on our review and re-analysis of the existing statistical literature; and David Listokin, of Rutgers University, reviewed our case study analysis of a mortgage lending institution. All of these technical reviewers challenged our assumptions and pushed us to advance our thinking on critical issues.

Finally, we owe special thanks to three organizations that contributed both data and expertise to our research efforts. The National Fair Housing Alliance generously allowed us access to their paired testing data and background files, and spent countless hours helping us understand the testing protocols. CLC Compliance Technologies assisted us in selected lending institutions for possible inclusion in the case study analysis and provided Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data on the performance of these institutions in a regional context. And an anonymous mortgage lending institution graciously consented to be the subject of our case study analysis, and spent two full days accommodating our site visit team and answering our questions.

Despite the generous help provided by all these individuals and organizations, any errors and omissions that may remain in this report are, of course, our own.

The contents of this report are the view of the contractor and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or the U.S. Government.

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Content Archived: January 20, 2009