New Website about Community Reinvestment Act

Posted by on January 5, 2009

As the credit crisis continues to evolve, one of the public policy discussion points increasingly being raised is about “CRA” – the Community Reinvestment Act, which benefits communities and banks by established a regulatory environment for monitoring the success (or failure) of banks meeting the lending, investment and service needs of American Communities (e.g., the areas specifically served by an individual depository institution).

Supporters of CRA proclaim its success (especially in expanding home ownership and banking services) for those families who would not be able to own their own homes because of where they were buying, their racial or ethnic background, gender, or other factors.  CRA detractors have recently attempted to blame the CRA compliance requirements for the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

The public dialogue includes strong support of CRA by well-known proponents – including banking regulators Sheila Bair, chair of FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan – and John Taylor, President and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

The Community Investment Network (Web resource), sponsored by NCRC, offers comprehensive information on CRA in a special feature section, including:

*      Summary of CRA Regulations from NCRC (how community groups can get involved in the process)
*      CRA Bank exam schedules – and results of examinations (results from the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, and OTS)
*      News & Updates – and Commentary (constantly updated and archived so the issues can be tracked)
*      The NCRC “CRA Toolkit” (on line resources for community leaders)
*      Ongoing dialogue about CRA – sure to increase when the new Congress and Administration begins work in January
*      And more

To link to this information:  http://www.communityinvestmentnetwork.org/cra-information/introduction-highlights/