Black Americans were short-changed amidst a promising time for refinancing home loans. According to Bloomberg’s analysis of federal mortgage data, Wells Fargo rejected nearly half of Black applicants who were looking to refinance their homes. Worsening matters, the banking giant approved applications for more lower-income white applications than the highest-earning Black applicants. Engineer Mauise Ricard III experienced Wells Fargo’s rejection firsthand after paying $560.43 to refinance his home in the suburbs of Atlanta. Richard was married to a doctor and had a credit score boasting over 800. The loan officer affirmed he could qualify for a fast-track appraisal. Yet, what should have been a clear green light turned into a string of issues. Bloomberg reports, Richard’s former home was in a predominantly Black neighborhood and he was told by the loan officer “perhaps the area is not eligible” for fast-track appraisal. Later, the loan officer told Richard his rate would increase by...

Let’s be real — some of us might not have made as much financial progress as we would have liked in 2019. Thankfully, it’s a new year, and we have another chance to do better. CompareCards commissioned a survey of almost 800 credit cardholders and found that nearly 1 in 5 cardholders with credit card debt didn’t make any progress towards paying off their debt last year. On top of that, 35 percent of cardholders entered 2020 with more credit card debt than they had in the beginning of 2019. In this article: Key findings Many cardholders started the new year with card debt Nearly 1 in 5 indebted cardholders didn’t make any payoff progress in 2019 The credit card debt gender gap continues How to prioritize paying off credit card debt in 2020 The bottom line Key findings Nearly 1 in 5 cardholders with credit card debt didn’t make any payoff progress this year. 35 percent of cardholders have more credit card debt now than they did on Jan. 1, 2019. On the other hand, 34 percent now have...