Inequity in Small Business Lending

National Community Reinvestment Coalition

First published September 2019

Better-qualified black and Hispanic testers who shopped for small business loans at Los Angeles area bank branches were treated worse than less qualified white testers, a new study found.

The study, from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), also found steep declines in government-backed lending to black business owners between 2008 and 2016.

Together, the tests and data reveal a troubling pattern of disinvestment and discouragement to small businesses as a whole and inequitable treatment for black and Hispanic entrepreneurs in particular.