Poorer places, not poorer borrowers
Nearly half its loans, 47.7%, went to homes in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods. At a typical similar lender (a savings institution making between half and twice as many loans) the figure is 17.0%, and almost none of them go higher. Yet LMI borrowers took only 18.3% of its loans, against 24.7% at peers. Many neighborhoods in its nine North Carolina counties may be classed LMI while the people buying there earn more. Its typical loan, $305,000, is above peers' $245,000.