Race Should be Centerpiece of Revised Community Reinvestment Act Standards
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Public Citizen today called on federal regulators to address racial discrimination in bank lending under the revisions to the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The agencies requested comment by Aug 5th, 2022, as they update rules to implement the 1977 law.
Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“CRA author Senator William Proxmire (D-WI) spoke eloquently about the discriminatory redlining that disenfranchised generations of would-be homebuyers of color. Yet currently, federal regulators do not assess whether banks make loans to people of color in their CRA ratings. This should be changed. Public Citizen calls on the agencies to hold regular public hearings on bank CRA compliance when they review merger applications. Banks with poor CRA ratings should be prevented from merging.”