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The study's results "portray an America where credit is a privilege of race and wealth, not a function of ability to pay back a loan." (Boston Globe---October 1991, Ore p.77) This statement, made by Congressman Joe Kennedy in reference to the 1991 Federal Reserve study on home mortgage applications by race and income illustrates how the banking institution has furthered inequality in our country. This study shows through the review of 6.4 million mortgage appplications that minorities were routinely descriminated against when trying to obtain home loans. Furthermore, this study indicates that in some cities minorities were three times less likely to obtain loans than whites even when assets and other economic factors were comparable. Equally alarming is another example of how banks and lenders descriminated against minorities. The "strip-mining minority neighborhoods of housing equity through unscrupulous backdoor loans for home repairs."(Ore p.77) This concept allowed banks to foreclose on many minority owned homes. Since minorities had trouble finding conventional loans through major financial