Wells Fargo trails, by 15 percentage points, the industrywide average acceptance rate for Black borrowers looking to refinance their mortgages, according to the Bloomberg analysis. Lenders overall approved 73% of applications from Black homeowners, compared with 78% from Hispanic borrowers and 86% from white borrowers, the wire service reported.
Other individual lenders accepted refinancing applications from Black homeowners at a higher rate. JPMorgan Chase, for example, approved 87% of Black applicants in 2021, and 93% of white ones, for a 6-percentage-point difference, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. Rocket Mortgage approved 81% of Black borrowers and 88% of white ones, for a 7-percentage-point gap. Bank of America, meanwhile, approved 75% of Black applicants and 86% of white borrowers.
