How Lending Impacts Low Income Neighborhoods

The financial services industry continues to undergo substantial changes in structure and practice. Bank mergers, the convergence of bank and non-bank activity, the use of credit scoring, and the increasing geographic scale of small business lending markets are all likely to have significant impacts on credit delivery to small businesses. This paper assesses the extent to which the evolving structure of the small business finance system affects both the nature and availability of capital in inner cities and modest income suburbs.