Dr. C. Aujean Lee, an Assistant Professor in the Regional + City Planning Department, recently co-authored the article, “Fintech’s relationship with subprime lending in immigrant gateway metropolitan areas,” in the Journal of Urban Affairs. Dr. Lee and her collaborator Tyler Haupert looked at the all-online mortgage loan application process known as fintech loans and found that immigrant gateways are associated with higher rates of subprime lending than areas with low rates of immigration.
The study suggests that metropolitan and tract-level racial and ethnic patterns remain key factors in shaping subprime lending rates in a rapidly evolving mortgage credit market. These findings highlight the continuing importance of race and ethnicity in lending and the need for monitoring discrimination in evolving financial technology.
Read the full article in the Journal of Urban Affairs. Congratulations to Dr. Lee on her publication!
Abstract
Financial technology lending (fintech) is a subset of the mortgage industry characterized by all-online application processes and the inclusion of non-traditional applicant data in underwriting decisions. While national studies suggest that fintech lenders mimic traditional lenders and distribute subprime loans to minority borrowers and neighborhoods at higher rates than to white borrowers and neighborhoods, these studies exclude regional differences by race/ethnicity and nativity. We assess variation in neighborhood-level fintech and traditional subprime lending rates across immigrant gateway metropolitan areas. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, we find that immigrant gateways are associated with higher rates of subprime lending than metropolitan areas with low rates of immigration. Results suggest that neighborhood-level composition of Asian and Latinx residents mediate the relationship between subprime lending and immigrant gateways in distinct ways depending on lender type. Findings suggest metropolitan and tract-level racial and ethnic patterns remain key factors in shaping subprime lending rates in a rapidly evolving mortgage credit market.
Gibbs College faculty Ken Marold[PA1.1] and Bryan Bloom were recognized at the 2026 ACSA Architectural Education Awards during the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) 114th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, held March 26–28, 2026.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Dr. Suchismita (Suchi) Bhattacharjee, Associate Dean of Academics and College Administration and Associate Professor of Interior Design, has received the campus-wide Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring of Graduate Students.
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce that Dr. Wanda Katja Liebermann, associate professor of Architecture, has been awarded the University of Oklahoma Vice President for Research and Partnerships Award for Excellence in Research, Design, and Creative Expression in the Humanities and Fine Arts for her scholarly monograph, Architecture’s Disability Problem.
