Reply #4: When it's done, consciously, by human beings, it's called "Redlining" [View All]

When it's done by programming Zip Codes and Census data into a computer, the corporation has a degree of deniability, yet the effect is even more damaging to the minority population, neighborhoods and entire cities: Computers and programs fed with the depth of data no human could manage, won't make a mistake when deciding which loans to deny or which (predatory or conventional) loan to issue.

This information makes the large mortgage companies look even more incompetent and predatory in light of the sub-prime mess. They're admitting they had all the economic data, at their fingertips, yet continue to claim ignorance of the economic disaster their practices would, eventually, cause.

Unless there was a pre-agreed bailout by the Federal Government, none of this makes any sense.