Capital and Main, February 7, 2022, Inside the Fight to Make Banks Benefit Their Communities At a time when big banks get easy approval for profitable mergers, some California community groups are saying not so fast. Dozens of them are seeking to block U.S. Bank’s bid to acquire Union Bank unless the former sets aside $90 billion for […]

Association of Women’s Business Centers:, February 8, 2022, Two Women’s Business Centers Create a Collective Opportunity Heidi Sheppard, Project Director at Washington, DC’s Women’s Business Center and Morgan Wortham, Managing Director at Maryland’s Women’s Business Center, saw potential in one of the many retail vacancies at Union Station. And both women recognized it as an

Creditcards.com, February 9, 2022, How to address the racial credit score gap The effects of racial discrimination are apparent in all aspects of financial life, with people of color and white people operating on two uneven playing fields. New programs like Experian Go aim to reach people who have traditionally been excluded from financial systems

Patch, February 9, 2022, Inside The Fight To Make Banks Benefit Their Communities The $8 billion merger, announced Sept. 21, 2021, would create California’s fifth largest bank, a $680 billion mega-corporation that would compete with giants like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. How the Biden administration responds to the merger will be a test of whether

Huffpost, February 10, 2022, Porsha Williams Shares The Black-Owned Brands She Loves Per the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, Black entrepreneurs in America are statistically less likely to get approved for small business loans than white entrepreneurs. Further, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Black business owners are treated inferior to white business owners when applying for

San Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 2022, 1,200 potential buyers: The Bay Area’s daunting real estate math after COVID Long term, economists warn that the severe lack of housing options could widen the gap between the wealthiest households and middle-class residents looking to put down roots, and prompt more aspiring home buyers to leave the area altogether. Concerns

American Banker, February 7, 2022, Fed, OCC set public hearing on U.S. Bank-Union Bank deal Federal regulators have granted a public hearing next month on U.S. Bancorp’s proposed acquisition of MUFG Union Bank, a win for community activists that have pushed for a chance to weigh in on the $8 billion deal. A U.S. Bank spokesperson

Bloomberg, February 4, 2022, Regulators Should Block Costly Fintech Loans, Advocates Say The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other U.S. agencies need to stop banks they oversee from “engaging in high-cost predatory lending” through their work with financial-technology firms, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Consumer Reports, the NAACP, the Center for Responsible Lending and other groups

ABC4, February 4, 2022  Four Utah banks targeted for laundering predatory loans of up to 225% APR With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) under new leadership and following a departure from the corporation’s chair on Friday, advocates are calling for the FDIC to stop certain Utah banks from “fronting for predatory lenders.” The four

KCET, February 4, 2022, Resilience and Rebuilding: COVID-19 Recovery in South Los Angeles PPP loans do appear to have given South L.A. businesses a vital lifeline during the pandemic, but the data reveal there is more work to be done. While 38% of eligible loans made countywide were forgiven, only 29% of loans made to

The Washington Post, February 3, 2022, A Black doctor says she was refused service at a bank because of her race: ‘I felt like a criminal’ Racial discrimination in banking, a phenomenon sometimes called “banking while Black,” is a common experience in the United States. Several instances of Black people being questioned about their deposits and accused

Seeking Alpha, February 4, 2022, FDIC should stop permitting banks from ‘predatory lending,’ advocates say The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) among other US regulators should stop allowing banks that partnered with fintechs to “engaging in high-cost predatory lending,” the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Consumer Reports, the NAACP, the Center for Responsible Lending and other groups

SilliconValley.com, February 4, 2022, Lansner’s mailbag: ‘Stop with the inequity bull’ on Black homeownership Reader: “My parents former two-bedroom, 70-year-old home in west suburban Chicago (now Black owned) is worth $137,000. My 48-year-old home, three-bedroom home in South Orange County is worth $958,000. While my Black neighbor’s four-bedroom home is worth more likely $1.1 million.”

Reality Biz News, February 6, 2022, Initiative aims to boost Black homeownership rates to all-time high The Black homeownership rate fell to just 42% in 2019, its lowest since 1970, according to date from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Now, the Black Homeownership Collaborative is aiming to create as many as three million new Black

PYMNTS, February 6, 2022, Advocacy Groups Call on Regulators to Ban High-Interest Rate FinTech Loans A coalition of advocacy groups wants U.S. regulators to look more into banks partnering with FinTechs to charge predatory interest rates that would be otherwise illegal in the lenders’ home states, Bloomberg reported Friday (Feb. 4). In a letter, the National