releases: https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-lee-expresses-concern-over-federal-reserve-board-chairman-response-to-questions-on-accuracy-of-cra-ratings-system
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-lee-expresses-concern-over-federal-reserve-board-chairman-response-to-questions-on-accuracy-of-cra-ratings-system | Congresswoman Lee Expresses Concern Over Federal Reserve Board Chairman Response to Questions on Accuracy of CRA Ratings System | 2002-06-19 | 2002 | 2002-06 | Democrat | House | CA | Barbara Lee | L000551 | lee.house.gov | legacy | 06.19.02 Congresswoman Lee Expresses Concern Over Federal Reserve Board Chairman Response to Questions on Accuracy of CRA Ratings System Washington, DC - Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) today sent a letter to Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan to express her disagreement with his characterization of the weight placed on lending to minorities within the CRA rating system and to request a meeting with Chairman Greenspan, representatives from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and concerned Members of Congress.Congresswoman Lee expressed her concern that Chairman Greenspan's testimony before the Financial Services Committee and his correspondence regarding the accuracy of the CRA Rating system seemed to minimize the importance of minority homeownership in the CRA rating. "I appreciate your response to my February 8 letter regarding CRA ratings for financial institutions in California. However, I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of the weight placed on lending to minorities," said Lee. "I am concerned that your letter seems to justify the granting of high CRA ratings to major banks that provide only one percent of loans to African Americans and that have an equally poor lending record for Latinos." Chairman Greenspan wrote that, "Race and ethnicity are not the focus of an assessment of CRA performance. The focus of the statute, rather, is on assuring that institutions serve all parts of their communities, including low- and moderate-income areas," and that matters regarding race and ethnicity are reviewed separately. "While I am well aware that the number of home loans is just one factor considered in a CRA rating, I strongly believe that minority homeownership must be a crucial element in our country, and especially in states with large under-served minority populations, such as California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and many others," said Lee. "I understand that the interagency review of the existing CRA recommendations is underway and I sincerely hope that these important issues surrounding ratings with regard to race and ethnicity will be taken into account." In July of 2001, before the Financial Services Committee, Chairman Greenspan stated that the CRA rating system was an effective method for influencing greater lending to under-served minorities in response to Congresswoman Lee's questions about the lack of home lending to African Americans and Latinos. At the request of Congresswoman Lee, the Greenlining Institute, a group of business, religious and civic leaders in the African American, Latino and Asian Community, analyzed data on home lending provided by the Federal Reserve Board. They found that an overwhelming percentage of major banks in California (with $10 billion or more in assets) receive "outstanding" CRA lending grades despite making less that 3 percent of their conventional homes loans to African Americans. There was no significant difference in lending patterns to Latinos. ### Next Article | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |