Bank branches matter. Countering the overwhelming messaging from many banks and even some regulators, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has published several reports over the years that detail how much branches still matter for consumers and communities, even in 2019. Just look at the number of branches that banks opened in the last year, and it is clear that they also know the value of a physical outpost in the community they want to serve.
In September 2018, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released the results of a survey of 1,200 banks on small business lending in America. It found that small business lending is threatened by the decline of smaller banks and the reduction of bank branches in many communities. But just as revealing was what the survey didn’t find. More information that would be essential for policy and regulatory decisions remains concealed, invisible to the public.
NCRC has secured a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to probe banks’ small-business lending practices. It follows a 2017 pilot study in which the group found that white shoppers posing as business owners were three times more likely to be invited for follow-up appointments than their black counterparts and twice as likely to be offered help in completing loan applications.
Washington, DC – Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released “Small Business Lending Deserts and Oases,” a breakthrough report on small business lending trends in the United States and disparities in access to credit for small businesses. This is one of the first reports to comprehensively map small business lending “deserts” and small business […]
Washington, DC — The National Community Reinvestment Coalition Community Development Fund (NCRC CDF) has been awarded $420,000 from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. This week, the CDFI Fund announced that it has awarded more than $160 million to 152 organizations through the FY2014 round of the CDFI program. “The NCRC Community Development Fund […]
