| FDIC Imposes
CRA Condition After
Mississippi Bank Merger
Challenged by Fair Finance
Watch
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SOUTH
BRONX,
March 23 – While the US bank
regulators purport to be
cracking down on fair lending
and other abuses of consumers,
they continue to allow banks
of all sizes to pass exams and
merge when they apply, despite
deep disparities.
On December 9,
Fair Finance Watch (with Inner
City Press on the FOIA)
commented to the FDIC:
Merchants & Marine Bank to
acquire Mississippi River
Bank:
The
applicant Merchants &
Marine Bank in 2022 in
Mississippi based on its
disparate marketing made
148mortgage loans to whites --
while making only 10 loans to
African Americans. This is far
out of keeping with the
demographics, and others
lenders, in Mississippi in
particularly in Merchants
& Marine Bank's CRA
assessment areas.
In Alabama
it is worse. And it would get
worse in Louisiana, into which
the bank is apply to expand
via Mississippi River Bank.
The
applicant Merchants &
Marine Bank in 2022 in Alabama
based on its disparate
marketing made 26 mortgage
loans to whites -- and NONE.
to African Americans.
This is far
out of keeping with the
demographics, and others
lenders, in Alabama in
particularly in Merchants
& Marine Bank's CRA
assessment areas - this is
outrageous.
There are
other issues.... Fair Finance
Watch is requesting an
extension of the public
comment period, evidentiary
hearings and that, on the
current record, the
applications not be approved.
On March 19,
2024, the FDIC recounted Fair
Finance Watch / Inner City
Press' CRA protest and imposed
a condition, to develop a plan
to serve African American
borrowers, we've uploaded it
on DocumentCloud here.
***
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