I would like to give my thoughts in regard to the front-page article printed on July 18, "Lending in Greenville area earns poor marks." This article was trying to tell all of us that race discrimination still exists in lending practices for mortgages and other loans. It must have been a slow news day. What the article lacked was education on how a person is qualified for a mortgage.

Years ago, I used to work for a lender and took applications to qualify people, and I state "people" not race, for mortgages. Not once did I ever see an application be rejected or had a higher interest rate due to race. Matter of fact, I would like for the people who do these studies point me to where we check on an application what race we are.

The underwriters who approve the mortgages (who don't even see you) look at criteria that will determine what up-front costs are involved and what the interest rate will be. These criteria are based on risk factors.

Example: If you wanted to loan a person money, would you do so if they did not have a steady job in the same profession, or they owed other debts that would make it impossible to pay you back or had a history of paying late on other bills? All of the above makes up a credit score which is what the banks look at when handing out a loan. It has nothing to do with race.

The fact of the matter is, it has to do with your economic class status. The higher the risk factor the higher the interest rate will be, plain and simple. If you are a hard worker and follow rules in our society, then you are rewarded with the benefits.

STEVE HOLT

Grifton