(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Community Orgs to Trump Administration on CRA Rule: “We’ll See You In Court”
With NCRC and CRC, we intend to challenge the Trump administration for unlawfully weakening the anti-redlining protections of the Community Reinvestment Act.
Learn MoreThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has repeatedly kept the public in the dark as it moved forward to weaken regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act. The CRA is a fair lending law crucial to combating redlining and ensuring the flow of credit to low- and moderate-income communities by requiring banks to lend and invest locally.
OCC not only publicly criticized opposition to the proposed changes but also withheld key data and analysis about its decisions. When we requested Comptroller Otting’s off-the-record calls with bank executives be made public, the OCC did not even make a token attempt to comply until the very last possible day of the comment period, releasing a call log that revealed the existence of backchanneling to bank CEOs.
These changes to the CRA regulations are an affront to fair rulemaking and fundamentally undermine the CRA’s central purposes to facilitate retail lending, economic development, affordable housing, and support for small businesses in local communities. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting rushed to release the CRA rule on May 20, 2020 – in the midst of a pandemic – without a sign on by the Federal Reserve or the FDIC ahead of his suddenly announced plan to step down from the OCC.
On behalf of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the California Reinvestment Coalition, we have sent 2 FOIA requests and filed 2 lawsuits to compel the OCC and soon-to-be-former Comptroller Otting to release information the public deserves to know. We demand to see the following:
- All data and analysis related to the rollback of the CRA regulations
- The unusual steps the agency took to silence CRC and other groups that oppose changes to the CRA
- A full accounting of Comptroller Otting’s off-the-record calls with 17 bank executives on gutting the CRA
Democracy Forward, California Reinvestment Coalition Sue Trump Administration for Withholding Records on Plan to Weaken Anti-Redlining Protections
Read the Press Release HereSeptember 2018
The Trump administration began a rulemaking to weaken the CRA
The proposed rule has been criticized for potentially allowing banks to pick and choose which communities to serve, reducing development and preservation of affordable housing, and decreasing consumer access to affordable banking products.
December 11, 2019
We filed a FOIA request for records detailing the unusual steps taken to silence groups that opposed proposed changes to the CRA
In response to its proposed rulemaking, the OCC received over 1,500 public comments. Instead of impartially considering the public feedback, Deputy Comptroller for Community Affairs Barry Wides published an op-ed that criticized opposition to the administration’s CRA reforms.
Learn MoreMarch 17, 2020
We sent a letter to the OCC demanding Comptroller Otting’s off-the-record call logs
Democracy Forward, the NCRC, and the CRC demanded that the administration disclose Comptroller Otting’s ex parte communications with nongovernmental stakeholders.
Learn MoreApril 8, 2020
On behalf of NCRC, we sued when OCC and FDIC failed to release data and analysis cited as the basis for proposed revisions in the CRA
OCC and FDIC’s January 2020 publication of the potential CRA changes failed to include the data and analysis that the agencies cited as the basis for the proposed rule.
Learn MoreApril 14, 2020
We filed a FOIA request to get full records of Comptroller Otting’s call logs with CRC and NCRC
In the summary posted to the rulemaking docket, OCC waited until the close of the comment period and revealed virtually nothing about the information and views conveyed by the CEOs of 17 major banks, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citi, and JPMorgan Chase. So we submitted another FOIA request for the full call logs.
Learn MoreMay 15, 2020
On behalf of CRC, we sued OCC for continuing to withhold all requested records
In a Senate oversight hearing held that week, Senator Sherrod Brown noted that the “proposal will undermine access to credit for those who are already underserved” and asked Chairman Otting why the agency is “plowing ahead” in the midst of the coronavirus crisis when communities need access to credit most.
Learn MoreRelated Documents
- CRC FOIA Request to OCC (12/11/19) (PDF / 245 KB)
- Letter to Comptroller Otting for Ex Parte Call Logs (03/17/20) (PDF / 484 KB)
- OCC's Response to Letter (04/06/20) (PDF / 57 KB)
- OCC Call Log (04/08/20) (PDF / 65 KB)
- NCRC Complaint as Filed (04/08/20) (PDF / 4 MB)
- FOIA Request for Call Logs (04/14/20) (PDF / 553 KB)
- CRC Complaint as Filed (05/15/20) (PDF / 3 MB)
Jeffrey Dubner
Deputy Legal DirectorLitigating challenges to unlawful actions, abuses of power, and threats to democracy on behalf of those who are harmed.
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