October 30, 2018 – The St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) submitted public comments asking federal regulators only approve Busey Bank’s acquisition of TheBANK of Edwardsville in the event of Busey signing a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). This decision was made after extensive internal discussion with Busey representatives and is based on the worsening performance of Busey’s lending to low- and moderate- income borrowers. Busey entered the St. Louis market by purchasing Pulaski Bank, which was an industry leader in serving low- and moderate- income borrowers and communities. Likewise, TheBANK of Edwardsville is an innovative leader in serving the needs of the community and coalition members are concerned the merger will dilute those best practices.

“When Busey Bank arrived in our city, their executives gave our coalition members broad assurances that the CRA performance of the formerly Pulaski Bank branches wouldn’t suffer and would be bolstered by the size of the Busey. Instead, we saw a formerly industry leader replaced by a lending institution that now lags behind their peers in the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is due to this track record that our coalition is seeking a Community Benefits Agreement with Busey as part of their acquisition with TheBANK of Edwardsville. It is imperative that the low- and moderate- income communities of St. Louis have access to banking services and credit. This merger is an opportunity for Busey Bank to create a significant plan setting forth clear and specific measurable goals that can make a huge impact on access to financial services and investment in low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color,” said Elisabeth Risch, SLEHCRA Co-Chair, representing the Metro St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC).

Additionally, advocates will use this moment to speak to the importance of not only protecting, but strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). As the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is looking to change how banks are examined and assessed under the CRA, SLEHCRA hopes to raise awareness of this potential threat to local CRA investments. Local advocates point out that the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)’s recent report shows that potential changes could cost Missouri’s first congressional district as much as $320 million in lending over a five year period. “This could devastate neighborhood stabilization and drive African American homeownership rates even lower. This will only increase the massive wealth gap between black and white households. It is also important to note that strengthening the CRA was a call to action in the Forward Through Ferguson report. We hope regional leaders join our coalition members in submitting comments that encourage a strengthening, not weakening, of the CRA during this regulatory review period. Protecting and strengthening the CRA is something that matters to St. Louis. We need to make sure that the OCC understands how valuable this investment is to low- and moderate- income communities across the St. Louis metro,” said Rose Eichelberger, SLEHCRA Member, representing R.A.A. – Ready, Aim, Advocate.

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As part of NCRC’s #TreasureCRA campaign to protect and strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), SLEHCRA members have been working to build grassroots and official support for protecting the CRA from potentially harmful changes.

The St. Louis community is one with a longstanding history of advocacy for more equitable access to banking services. From the famous Jefferson Bank protests to the current work of SLEHCRA, St. Louisans have long been striving to improve our community and reinvest in areas that have been redlined. As the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) looks to make potentially significant changes to how the CRA is enforced, we are once again stepping up to promote reinvestment in low to moderate income communities and communities of color.

The City of St. Louis passed Resolution 97 in support of a strong CRA. The lead sponsor of the city’s resolution was Ald. Marlene Davis. After the passage of the resolution, Ald. Davis said “I sponsored this resolution in favor of CRA on behalf of the residents of the City of St. Louis because it’s the right thing to do!  Any time profits are being made by servicing the financial matters of our citizens, rules like CRA keep the process equitable for the community and the financial institutions.” Additionally,  the Vaughn Tenant Association, Urban 21, Moorish Science Temple #5 and Kingdom Women Ministries all passed resolutions of support. 

SLEHCRA is continuing to pursue more resolutions in support of protecting and strengthening the CRA. We thank all of the organizations and elected officials who have already shown that they #TreasureCRA. If your organization or municipality would be interested in also passing a resolution in support, please contact SLEHCRA for suggested resolution language.

SLEHCRA is also working to make sure that St. Louisans submit comment letters to the regulator considering altering the CRA. This is one of the most important things we can do to impact the regulatory process. Please consider taking a few minutes to submit a letter during this public comment period. For sample language to help you draft your comment, as well as steps to submitting a comment, please check out this great resource from NCRC.

Every year, SLEHCRA releases a Report to the Community. We have made it our priority to report the outcomes of SLEHCRA’s work and what banks are doing to meet the needs of the community. Our annual report highlights the services and investments made by banks to support non-profit organizations, small businesses, and residents living in low to moderate income neighborhoods. We believe that it is important to track changes that have been made, and provide transparency in community investments to encourage continued growth.

Read our 2017 Report to the Community here!

Feb. 15, 2018 — The St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) welcomes today’s major national story on the persistence of redlining in our nation’s real estate finance system. SLEHCRA has spent years working to improve access to credit and banking services in our metropolitan area’s communities of color. In recent years, we’ve highlighted respected national housing policy groups, such as National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) the Urban Institute, whose data analyses show almost no mortgage activity in North St. Louis. The most recent maps continue to show this striking trend. 

Lending Maps 2012-2016 – City

The coalition co-chairs offered the following reactions to today’s news.

“Upon the release of today’s finding by Center For Investigative Reporting, SLEHCRA is sad to say that nothing in the story surprises our coalition members. We have long pointed to the continued lack of lending in Northern St. Louis neighborhoods, both in the city and county. We have also pointed out that many of the branches opened in recent years are in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, meaning that the new branches are serving neighborhoods that are growing increasingly whiter and wealthier and not the majority Black neighborhoods, where more of the low and moderate income families that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is intended to benefit reside. As American household wealth is largely found in families’ home equity, we know that this problem not only closes the door on the “American Dream” of homeownership, it also reinforces a system that keeps minority families trapped in a cycle of intergenerational poverty.”  Elisabeth Risch, SLEHCRA Co-Chair, representing the Metro St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC)

“We reiterate our calls for more branches opening in the St. Louis metropolitan area’s predominantly Black communities, the establishment of a “greenlining fund”, and other programs and investments aimed at increasing credit access in the Black community. Lending in our majority minority neighborhoods is lower than in generations. We hope that this research is call to action that brings lenders, nonprofits and community leaders to the table for a real discussion about what needs to be done to create an equitable lending ecosystem in St. Louis. SLEHCRA stands ready to help in efforts to lead our region forward towards a more equitable future.” Jackie Hutchinson, SLEHCRA Co-Chair, representing the Consumers Council of Missouri

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SLEHCRA is happy to join with our allies at Chicago’s Woodstock Institute in announcing a $3 billion multi-market Community Development Plan with The PrivateBank as part of their merger with CIBC. St. Louis is The PrivateBank’s second largest market area. The PrivateBank has branches in both markets, but a far larger presence in Chicago. From the press release:

“The PrivateBank today announced a three-year Community Development Plan to further its recognized programs to serve the credit, banking and financial literacy needs of the individuals and communities it serves.

Under the Community Development Plan, The PrivateBank will commit at least $3 billion to loans, investment and charitable contributions for small businesses and underserved individuals, families and communities within its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) assessment areas. The Plan was developed in collaboration with its community partners at the Woodstock Institute and the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA).  The Plan demonstrates The PrivateBank’s commitment to remaining a leader in community development activities as it becomes part of the CIBC organization following the expected successful completion of the pending merger with CIBC by the end of June 2017.  The Plan has the support of CIBC.”

Later in the release, SLEHCRA Co-chair Elisabeth Risch speaks to the importance of these agreements for increasing access to banking services and products:

“SLEHCRA is pleased to partner with the PrivateBank on this Community Development Plan. This Plan represents significant commitments that will increase access to homeownership, build capacity of small businesses, and invest in our communities in St. Louis. Our coalition is looking forward to working with the PrivateBank to implement this plan over the next three years.”

Highlights of the plan include:

• Establish two new branches in underserved communities in its Chicago CRA assessment area, including one located in a low-income census tract;
• Originate an aggregate $900 million of small business loans;
• Originate an aggregate $1 billion in residential mortgage loans throughout its CRA assessment areas, including $200 million in loans to underserved borrowers and communities;
• Make at least $100 million in aggregate CRA-qualified investments;
• Originate an aggregate $1 billion in Community Development loans throughout its CRA assessment areas; and
• Contribute an aggregate $10 million in charitable donations, including at least $5.5 million in CRA-qualified charitable contributions, to its community partners.

The full press release can be read here.

Over the past year, the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance (SLEHCRA) collected information from area banks to gather an aggregate look at their lending and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) activities across the region into a report for the community.

This report is intended to provide an update on the changes that have occurred in financial services that help meet the needs of the community. We believe it is important to track changes over time and to report those changes publicly. We intend for this to highlight positive changes and to build accountability for continued progress.

In addition to collecting information from lending institutions, community members were also asked about their experiences with and attitudes toward banking within their own communities. The results of these examinations are published here for an overview of the state of banking services being offered throughout the greater St. Louis service area.

Download the full report here:   SLEHCRA_CommunityReport_2016

SLEHCRA is proud to partner with other St. Louis nonprofits, both public television and radio and the St. Louis American to bring city residents an evening of discussion about the issues facing the City of St. Louis. This forum will be held at The Sheldon (3648 Washington) on the evening of Wednesday, February 22nd. We look forward to hearing the candidates discuss their plans for community development and building a more equitable city.

While the event is free, you must RSVP (limited seating). Please RSVP here.

MoPIRG and Frontier Group have released a report detailing how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) helps defend consumers from exorbitant overdraft fees. From the report’s Executive Summary:

• The 10 banks that collected the most overdraft revenue through the first three quarters of 2016, in order, were: Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, PNC Bank, Suntrust Bank, Regions Bank, Branch Banking and Trust, and Woodforest National Bank.
• Through the first three quarters of 2016, 626 large banks reported collecting $8.4 billion in revenue from overdraft and NSF fees, an increase of 3.6 percent over the same period in 2015. American consumers should look to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has already enforced overdraft regulations and returned millions of dollars to consumers, to take new action to prevent unfair overdraft fees.

SLEHCRA highly recommends reading the report and supports MoPIRG’s campaign against banks using high overdraft fees.

The full report can be read here: MoPIRG Overdraft Fee Report