| In CRA Test
Challenges To VeraBank Panola Application
Replied To By Fed But OCC Silent
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT / S
Bronx, Feb 6 – Whether or not
the U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act will be again
enforced until the new
Administration and its
regulators is an open
questions.
On the
10th day of the new
Administration, Fair Finance
Watch with Inner City Press on
the FOIA filed comments with
the post-Brooks Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency
and with the Federal Reserve
on a proposal by VeraBank of
Texas to acquire Panola
National Bank.
The issues
include that the applicant
VeraBank in Texas in 2019 made
465 home loans to whites and
only NINE to African
Americans. Its denial rate for
African Americans was more
than FOUR TIMES than for
whites.
That
is to say, VeraBank in Texas
in 2019 made 3.7 loans to
whites for each denial to
whites. It made less than one
- 0.81 - loans to African
Americans for every denial to
African Americans.
There is also this: "'In the
second round we have seen
about half the number of
requests that we did in the
first round,' said Brad
Tidwell, president and CEO of
Henderson-based VeraBank."
To the
OCC, the rubber-stamping of
mergers by redliners under
Brian Brooks and Joseph Otting
has been explicitly noted. To
the Fed, its logic in
extending a recent comment
period due to Coronavirus must
apply to this and other
applications.
Now, 17
days into the new
Administration, the Federal
Reserve has replied: "Richard
Potomac, Esq.
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Dallas, Texas 75201-7932
Subject: VeraBank, Inc.,
Henderson, Texas, to acquire
Panola National Bank,
Carthage, Texas.
Dear Mr. Potomac:
This is to advise that as of
February 2, 2021, processing
of your application was
transferred from Delegated
Action to Board Action for
further review." Inner City
Press got the "public" portion
of the Fed application, and
had FOIA-ed the rest (and
more) from the Board. And from
the OCC? Nothing. Nothing at
all. When will this change?
These are litmus tests. Watch
this site.
***
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