If there a passive, gender bias in the mortgage industry simply because a mortgage lender demands a copy of the potential homebuyer’s divorce agreement?
One Reddit user posed this question, claiming she’s been asked. So why could there be bias? “temp4mortgages” claims her ex-husband refinanced five times and was never asked by his lender for his divorce paperwork.
She asks the internet forum: “I'm just curious: why did they never ask for a copy of my second husband's divorce agreement?”
But there’s more proof offered by “temp4mortgages”
“I took a Facebook poll of 480 friends across multiple states and ONLY women responded saying they were asked for this. Not a single man.
They all said they complied. Because how could they not? They just wanted their loan, and were not in the position to withdraw and go elsewhere, as they'd already paid their loan application fees which they would lose.”
She also claims a Google search supports the claims that gender bias is happening in the mortgage underwriting space.
[Note: My search (gender bias mortgages divorce agreement) brought up a piece of content called “How men get screwed in divorce”]
Well, if temp4mortages was hoping to get some support from the underwriters who contribute to the mortgage subreddit, it was not meant to be.
One undewriter responded: “I have been a part of roughly 600 loans, and every single divorced male was asked to supply his divorce agreement.”
And another, also a woman, went more for the throat:
“you are misinterpreting the need for excessive amounts of information as discrimination. It is normal for an underwriter to decide they want something last second, and it is normal for a bank to want literally everything but a genetic profile on you. They are under and enormous burden to prove that you can reasonably pay and aren't a drug dealer/terrorist/money launderer/space alien/etc. I'm a card-carrying feminist and bleeding heart liberal, and I am very aware of the bias women face in finance, and I honestly do not believe that this is discrimination.”
Another commenter brought in the fact that women change there names more often than not and this could spur the request more often in females.
And yet another mentioned money laundering and terrorism.
But the most entertaining comes from “yeahhhsuuure” who believes a lack of experience in loan transactions may be upsetting this one-off deal.
Or as they put it: “the underwriter is just a noob.”
