CNNMoney, January 12, 2018: Trump may weaken ‘outdated’ rules that force banks to lend to the poor
Imagine having a great credit score and being denied for a mortgage just because you live in a low-income neighborhood. Redlining, the refusal by banks to lend to poor and minority communities, was so common decades ago that Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977 to prevent it. For years, banks have been fighting these requirements to lend to underprivileged people — and President Trump is listening as he continues his war on regulation.
Advocacy groups fear the Trump administration will weaken the lending requirements and make it harder for low-income Americans to get mortgages, small business loans or other forms of credit that help people work their way out of poverty.
“We just can’t let that happen,” said John Taylor, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an alliance of organizations that promote fair lending. “The CRA is the holy grail that ensures the financial interests of working class and low-income workers will be considered.”
Taylor, who met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about the CRA, said the irony is that these rules benefit the same “blue-collar people Donald Trump maintains he represents.”
