Institutional Discrimination: Unfair Mortgage Lending Practices
Overview
We examined various types of discrimination in this module. Individual discrimination is often easy to spot. Institutional discrimination is more difficult to identify. Unfair policies and procedures are generally embedded deep in the organization. How would you know that you may have charged a higher interest rate for your auto loan based on your zip code, the assumption that your zip code has something to do with your skin color? Would it even cross your mind?
Assignment Instructions
1. Research one (1) example of historical or current institutional discrimination from the following list:
The Original Social Security Act/Unemployment Insurance
Redlining
Restrictive Covenants
Unfair mortgage lending practices
Unfair auto financing programs
2. Once all of your data and information is collected, you will develop an essay describing your data findings. This essay should include:
Any specifics you were able to uncover relevant to the program or policies
Which groups in society were most affected by these programs or policies
What, if any, legal action was taken regarding these programs or policies
Apply one of our three (3) core sociological theories to analyze and explain these programs or policies (Functionalism, Conflict theory or Symbolic Interaction)
Your essay should be a minimum of 400 words. It must be formatted according to MLA or APA style formatting, which means in-text citations for all of your sources.
Title
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
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Unscrupulous mortgage lending practices entail a trinity of defining attributes. Initially, there is the invidious targeting of susceptible demographics based on personal characteristics irrelevant to creditworthiness, including race, ethnicity, age, or gender. Subsequently, they employ onerous loan terms meticulously structured to maximize the lender's pecuniary gain while inflicting severe financial harm on borrowers. These terms encompass the disbursement of huge loans that surpass the assessed value of the mortgaged property and the implementation of negative amortization loans. Lastly, there is a resort to fraudulent marketing stratagems and intricate loan provisions aimed at exploiting individuals lacking financial acumen or elderly borrowers (Carr & Kolluri, 2001).
Vulnerability to unjust lending and mortgages extends to those with scant credit options or multifarious vulnerabilities—individuals grappling with recurrent cash crises, low credit ratings, limited educational access,