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The Community Reinvestment Act After Fifteen Years: It Works, But Strengthened Federal Enforcement Is Needed, Allen J. Fishbein
The Community Reinvestment Act After Fifteen Years: It Works, But Strengthened Federal Enforcement Is Needed, Allen J. Fishbein
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) was adopted to curb redlining, the discriminatory mortgage lending practice whereby lenders refuse to make loans to certain geographic areas based on the racial or ethnic composition of those areas or the age of their housing stock. The law reflected Congressional judgment that lending institutions were overlooking important credit needs within their local communities and that the banking regulators’ efforts were inadequate to deter this neglect. Although the law was rarely enforced, some organized community groups made it work. Today’s climate of bank restructuring presents new challenges to making the law effective. Despite its apparent …
A Guide To Enforcing The Community Reinvestment Act, Richard Marisco
A Guide To Enforcing The Community Reinvestment Act, Richard Marisco
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) represents a continuing, affirmative obligation on banks to meet the credit needs of their communities — including low and moderate income neighborhoods — by providing appropriate credit products and deposit services. Federal regulators have been hesitant to enforce the CRA aggressively, and community based organizations (“CBO’s”) have taken the lead in using the CRA to improve bank lending in low and moderate income communities. A combination of recent legislation and social developments ensure an increase in the CBO’s CRA enforcement activity. This Guide’s purpose is twofold. The first is to catalogue and analyze the decisions, …