According to the New York Times, a recent study found that minority borrowers and those with less education paid higher fees for their loans. The 270 page report, which was compiled for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), studied nearly 8,000 mortgage loans and concluded that college-educated borrowers paid over $1,000 less than those without a college education.
The study's author, former HUD economist Sarah E. Woodward, guessed that lenders quoted lower fees to better-educated borrowers because they believed that these prospective borrowers were more likely to shop around or had a better idea of what fees they should be paying for the kind of loan they were getting.
So how does this information benefit you? That's easy. By shopping online you maintain some privacy -- your quote can't be swayed by any impression of your education, race, gender, or other factors. And the fact that you are online in the first place means it's likely that you have a certain level of savvy and that you are clearly shopping; both are factors which should motivate your lenders to give you a fair and competitive quote.
