Updated Community Reinvestment Act Rules Combat Racist Lending
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Banking regulators today jointly released a proposal to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a 1977 law designed to combat discriminatory lending such as redlining. The proposal follows efforts by the Trump administration to erode this law. Banks that have low CRA ratings are barred from acquisitions.
In response to today’s rule, Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen financial policy advocate, issued the following statement:
“As banks rely less on the location of their branches, today’s rule is an ambitious proposal to combat racist lending. With greater transparency and use of clear metrics, this proposal will allow underserved communities to gain access to credit from federal subsidized lending institutions. At a moment when underserved communities face the brunt of the economic impacts from the climate crisis, this rule starts a long conversation about what climate justice looks like.”