St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November, 3, 2019: Local Lender Looks to Help Small North St. Louis Businesses
A local nonprofit lender will use a $200,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase to help small businesses north of Delmar Boulevard get loans.
Justine Petersen, based in the Covenant Blu Grand Center neighborhood, is looking to help 20 minority-owned businesses in St. Louis and St. Louis County create business plans, get their books in order, build credit and, ultimately, land low-interest business loans that they can’t get now.
Multiple reports have shown that racial bias prevents minority companies from getting loans. In a recent study, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition sent testers to inquire about small business loans at 60 bank branches in the Los Angeles area. The testers had nearly identical business profiles, with higher qualifications for the black and Hispanic testers.
Yet white testers received more loan information, and friendlier customer service. And loan officers asked for personal W2 forms — which are not necessary for small business loans — from 16% of black testers, over 11% of Hispanic testers, and none of the white testers.
