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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 …
The Community Reinvestment Act: Good Intentions Headed In The Wrong Direction, Lawrence J. White
The Community Reinvestment Act: Good Intentions Headed In The Wrong Direction, Lawrence J. White
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (“CRA” or “the Act”) places an obligation on commercial banks and savings and loan associations (“S&Ls”) and savings banks (together with S&Ls, frequently described as “thrifts”) to meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered consistent with the safe and sound operation of such institutions. The Act offers no greater precision for these phrases, and the task of fleshing them out and enforcing them has been left to the bank and thrift regulatory agencies. This article argues that the CRA approach is fundamentally flawed. It is either redundant (because …
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, …