CRA

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has been an effective tool that has been used over the past 30 years to ensure that banks are meeting all the credit needs of the communities they serve, particularly low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities.

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies announced a series of upcoming public hearings on modernizing the regulations that implement the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Interested parties are invited to provide testimony and written comments.
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Call participants will learn why CRA should be modernized and what is being proposed. The call will also include information on how to register to attend the Federal Reserve hearings on CRA. The Chicago hearing is on August 12, 2010.
 
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The Community Reinvestment Organizing Project (a project of the Monroe Foundation) and Woodstock Institute will host a workshop to discuss the modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act and help community-based organizations prepare written and oral testimony at the upcoming Federal Reserve public hearing on Thursday August 12, 2010.
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal bank regulator, recently released its quarterly list of banks with upcoming Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examinations. During the examination process, the OCC evaluates how well a bank is meeting its responsibility to serve all of the areas where it is active, including low-income and minority communities. The OCC welcomes public comment during the examination period.

This report by Woodstock Institute analyzes 2007 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and finds that, in low- and moderate-income communities, depositories with CRA obligations originate a far smaller share of higher-cost loans than lenders not subject to CRA.  It also finds that lenders covered by CRA are much less likely to make higher-cost loans in communities of color than lenders not covered by CRA.