February, 1998

Access To The Dream:
Mortgage Lending in Texas

Written by the Consumers Union Southwest Regional Office.
on behalf of the Texas Community Reinvestment Coalition

For over twenty years, Ms. J. , a single-mother and resident of San Antonio, has banked with Bank of America, the only financial institution where she maintained her checking and savings accounts.

When she applied for a home loan ten years ago, Bank of America denied her because she did not have sufficient income nor an established credit history. According to Ms. J., she had been working with Sears for ten years at that point, had no debt, and did not own any credit cards because she "did not have a purpose for them."

"After that [denial], I.gave up because if my own bank wasn't going to give me a loan, I figured what other bank would. She chose not to go to a mortgage company because "it would have been a lot less expensive if I went to the bank that I dealt with."

According to Ms. J., residents in the San Antonio community where she lives hold a generally feel that getting a home loan through a mortgage company is more expensive.

Today, Ms. J. still rents, and her experience with Bank of America is the reason she had not applied for a home loan again.