The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is considering making rule changes that would weaken significantly the Community Reinvestment Act, which could have a potential devastating effect on affordable housing investments in rural areas.

Financial institutions holding less than $1 billion in assets would no longer be evaluated by the FDIC on their investment or services to low- and moderate-income communities. Current regulations require banks with assets over $250 million to be tested on lending, investments and services that benefit low-income communities. The proposed rules would radically reduce the number of financial institutions evaluated on their community investments – as many as 2,000 banks will no longer be evaluated. Fewer than six percent of depository institutions have assets more than $1 billion. To see which financial partners may no longer be graded on investments or services, click here .

Advocates are urged to flood the FDIC with comments about the proposed rule. The FDIC is accepting comments on the proposed rule until October 20, 2004 . (The agency extended the original comment after getting nearly 1,400 letters from concerned groups.) To e-mail comments to the FDIC , click here ! Quantity counts!

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition is holding a conference call on Monday, October 4 at 3:30 p.m. EST to educate as many organizations as possible about the FDIC attack on CRA. The conference call phone number is 1-888-955-5366 and the pass code is 620050#. If you would like more information about the call, contact: Josh Silver at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition at e-mail jsilver@ncrc.org or phone (202) 628-8866.

For More Information:

CLICK HERE to see NCRC’s talking points and sample letters and to send comments to FDIC
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
National Congress for Community Economic Development