In the News

A “mystery shopper” test at 32 bank branches in Los Angeles, carried out by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a membership organisation for small businesses, found white customers were given subtly better customer service—for example, being told more about available products and their costs. Black applicants were asked to provide more information.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), found a racial disparity and bias in small business lending from banks in their 2008–2016 study, leaving minority business owners more vulnerable to the already economically devastating pandemic by having less access to credit and funding.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Thursday over its revamp of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a 1977 anti-redlining law that governs lending in low-income neighborhoods.

NCRC’s CEO Jesse Van Tol said the organizations “have been left with no choice but to file suit against the OCC to protect our most vulnerable and underserved communities.”

“COVID-19 struck a nation that was already mostly struggling,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of NCRC. “Recovery in most places will be even more challenging than in those where investment was already concentrated. There is no doubt that the protests that have erupted nationwide are at least in part motivated by the nation’s long history of racial economic inequality.”

“This agreement with First Merchants Bank is a significant step forward and reflects practices that all banks can adopt in order to address the racial wealth divide,” Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, the coalition’s chief of race, wealth and community, said in the announcement.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the California Reinvestment Coalition said the May 20 rule was rushed through during the coronavirus pandemic and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. Two other regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve, didn’t sign onto the OCC’s regulation.

What’s more, a National Community Reinvestment Coalition study found that banks outperformed credit unions on 65% of fair lending indicators in home purchase, refinance and home improvement lending to low- and moderate-income areas.

Gentrification is changing the Miami metro more rapidly than in most other U.S. regions, according to a recent study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

“COVID-19 struck a nation that was already mostly struggling,” the authors wrote. “Recovery in most places will be even more challenging than in those where investment was already concentrated. Unless we act now.”

“If we had the data prior to this moment … we might have understood the vulnerable position many small businesses are in,” said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition advocacy group.

More than 50 years after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed housing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin and religion, segregation persists. According to the advocacy group National Community Reinvestment Coalition of Washington, D.C., nearly three quarters of the neighborhoods designated as high risk are inhabited by the poor. And 64% are minority neighborhoods.

“I don’t think the true pain of this has been discovered yet,” said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, who serves as chief of race, wealth and community for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in Washington, D.C.

NCRC also looked at the correlation between gentrification and so-called Opportunity Zones, areas designated by city and state leaders for development and tax breaks.

“It’s a combination of economic activity, land use and geography,” said NCRC director of research Jason Richardson. The nonprofit coalition advocates for private reinvestment in underserved communities.