Promote Public Policies that Enhance Economic Ability

NCRC's policy positions regarding the Community Reinvestment Act , fair housing, financial modernization, and many other issues, inform and help shape legislation that affects access to credit and capital for low- and moderate-income communities. NCRC is a leader in national discussions and provides trusted information to its members through alerts, comment letters on legislative and regulatory issues, Congressional testimony and white papers.

NCRC staff briefs legislators on timely issues and provides community groups with a voice on Capitol Hill. NCRC members contact national representatives through listserves, mailings, sign–on letters, conference calls and more. NCRC encourages accountability within the banking industry regarding fair lending laws and CRA, persistently calls for strengthening CRA, ensures regulatory action against predatory lenders and helps establish state and local anti-predatory lending laws and ordinances.

Local community groups and leaders often do not have the resources to maintain regular oversight and provide input to policymakers in Washington, DC. Through personal visits, mailings, telephone conference calls, a members-only listserv, and other initiatives, NCRC members are regularly able to communicate their opinions to Capitol Hill. It is this nationwide collaboration that empowers NCRC before legislative and regulatory agencies.

NCRC and its members have succeeded in:

• Changing the system that holds banks accountable under the fair lending laws and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

• Preserving CRA from continuous efforts to weaken it.

• Lowering the threshold by which bank regulators declare a lender to be engaged in predatory lending practices.

• Increasing the availability and usability of lending data made available by bank regulatory agencies.

• Helping establish the creation of statewide and local anti-predatory lending ordinances and laws.

NCRC’s policy positions are determined via consultation with its membership and a vote of the NCRC Board. The NCRC 2008 Legislative and Regulatory Agenda addresses the following issues:

• Anti-Predatory Lending and Sustainable Homeownership
• Equity Loss and Foreclosure
• Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
• Small Business Data

NCRC is also often invited to testify before Congressional committees and to help draft model legislation regarding the Community Reinvestment Act, fair housing, financial modernization and many other issues that affect access to credit and capital to low- and moderate-income communities. Read the latest, and most informative, NCRC testimonies before Congress.

Read NCRC testimonies