CBA Raps CRA Proposal

Federal regulars are piling on "unwarranted" compliance issues as part of a new scheme for scoring Community Reinvestment Act performance, according to the Consumer Bankers Association.Under a proposed rule, a bank's or thrift's CRA score would be adversely affected if examiners find violations of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or other consumer protection laws. "It was not Congress' intention to have the regulatory agencies download the entire consumer compliance examination into CRA, making CRA, in effect, a super-compliance oversight review process," the CBA says in a comment letter. "We believe that the approach being proposed here is not appropriate for CRA and is fraught with problems." The consumer bankers also object to expanding the CRA public disclosures to include information on HOEPA originations and high-cost loans that institutions are collecting under the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements. The CBA can be found online at http://www.cbanet.org.