Austan Goolsbee is not a credit snob

The Center for Responsible Lending estimated that in 2005, a
majority of home loans to African-Americans and 40 percent of home
loans to Hispanics were subprime loans. The existence and spread of
subprime lending helps explain the drastic growth of homeownership for
these same groups. Since 1995, for example, the number of
African-American households has risen by about 20 percent, but the
number of African-American homeowners has risen almost twice that rate,
by about 35 percent. For Hispanics, the number of households is up
about 45 percent and the number of homeowning households is up by
almost 70 percent.

And do not forget that the vast majority of
even subprime borrowers have been making their payments. Indeed, fewer
than 15 percent of borrowers in this most risky group have even been
delinquent on a payment, much less defaulted.

Here is more.