Agencies Release List of CRA Eligible Geographic Regions

The Federal Reserve, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, The Office of Thrift Supervision, and The Office of Comptroller of the Currency have released a list of approximately 3,600 Census Tracts that have been been designated as "Middle-Income Distressed" or "Underserved" geographies for 2010.

The list of non-metropolitan areas are considered distressed or underserved for the purposes of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) by virtue of economic conditions including high levels of unemployment, poverty, and/or population loss. Revitalization or stabilization activities undertaken within the "distressed" areas will receive consideration as "community development" under CRA.

The Community Reinvestment Act was established by Congress in 1977 to stop what was then a widespread practice among banks to deny credit to poor and minority communities through a practice known as "redlining." The Act is intended to encourage depository institutions to meet credit needs within their own communities, consistent with safe and sound banking operations. 

The four regulatory agencies, The Federal Reserve, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, The Office of Thrift Supervision, and The Office of Comptroller of the Currency, are charged with examining and rating banks on their compliance to CRA standards.  The agencies are required to take an institution's CRA performance into consideration when ruling on that institution's applications for new branches or approving mergers or acquisitions.

Where communities that were on the 2009 version of the Distressed Geographies list do not appear on the 2010 list, they will have a one-year period during which they remain eligible to receive community development activities.

The complete 120 page list of distressed census tracts can be found HERE