CRA Examinations

What happens during a CRA examination?

A bank’s CRA examination will be conducted by its federal regulatory agency which is assigned based on how the bank is chartered. This agency could be: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or OCC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC The Federal Reserve Prior to examination, each regulator published a scheduled of…

Where can I find the CRA Rating for a bank?

CRA ratings are the only public bank examination rating. They are announced each month by the bank regulators. You can also search for any bank’s CRA rating on a special website published by the FFIEC.  Search here.

How does a bank get an Outstanding CRA rating?

There is no magic formula to obtaining an Outstanding CRA rating. The FFIEC has published CRA examination procedures that are used by the Federal bank regulators to conduct CRA exams.  The procedures are specific to the bank’s CRA size. During an examination, the CRA examiner will consider dozens of factors to determine a bank’s overall…

What happens if a bank gets a bad CRA rating?

Of the four ratings a bank can receive for their CRA performance, only the Needs to Improve and Substantial Non-Compliance are viewed as “bad” ratings. However, especially in the case of a Needs to Improve rating, just because the bank received a negative rating doesn’t mean that the bank is ignoring the community. In some…

What is peer lending data?

Peer lending data is accumulated each year by most banks and other lenders in the United States.  The requirements for compiling and reporting peer lending data are outlined in federal regulations. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requires mortgage lenders to report all mortgage applications in a standardize format each year. The CRA requires banks to…