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NCRC Presentation on CRA and Fair Lending Patterns & Policy. Josh Silver, Vice President of Research and Policy January 2010. Dr. Jeckel & Mr. Hyde. Community lending – safe and sound, covered by CRA Toxic lending – Predatory & abusive, not regulated
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NCRC Presentation on CRA and Fair Lending Patterns & Policy Josh Silver, Vice President of Research and Policy January 2010
Dr. Jeckel & Mr. Hyde Community lending – safe and sound, covered by CRA Toxic lending – Predatory & abusive, not regulated Where do We Go From Here – CRA Modernization, Comprehensive Anti-Predatory Law, Regulatory Reform Foreclosure Prevention
Current Trends National delinquency rate 9.6% in 3rd qtr ‘09, a record qtr rate (MBA, Nov 09); foreclosures 4.3%; delinquency plus foreclosure 14.4%, also record. Unemployment rate 10% Foreclosure filings reported on 2.8 million properties in 2009, a 21% increase from 2008(Realtytrac) Nevada, Florida, Arizona have highest foreclosure rates; 10% of Nevada’s properties received foreclosure filings in 2009. Fed govt guarantees or funds 86% of all new home loans, up from 30% 4 years ago (Wash Post Sept 7)
How CRA Works • Passed in 1977, CRA makes redlining, or discrimination against neighborhoods illegal • CRA establishes an affirmative and continual obligation to serve credit needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities • CRA empowers via public participation – CRA exams and bank mergers. • CRA is a win-win proposition: more safe and sound loans, building community wealth, more profitable business opportunities for banks
CRA’s Effectiveness • More than $6 trillion in CRA agreements – to make loans, investments, and services to LMI and minority communities • NCRC database of CRA agreements used by Fed Reserve economists and Harvard Univ. – home lending to LMI and minority borrowers higher in communities covered by CRA agreements and CRA exams • The Treasury Dept. - banks increased home loans to LMI areas and borrowers by 39 percent from 1993 to 1998, more than twice the increase (of 17 percent) to middle- and upper-income borrowers and areas.
CRA’s Effectiveness contd. • CD Lending - $480 billion since 1996 • Small Business Lending - $641 billion in low/mod neighborhoods since 1996 • CRA-covered banks less likely to issue high-cost loans & piggybacks. Only 6% of high-cost loans issued by banks to LMI people and n’hoods in CRA AA’s
Why CRA Safe & Sound Prepare borrowers carefully for homeownership through counseling & building up savings, which also earns points on CRA exams Not just homeownership but rental housing, small business, economic & community development Holistic community development
Foreclosure Prevention • CRA Question and Answer document affirms CRA points for loan programs with the objective of providing affordable, sustainable, long-term relief….through loan refinancing…or modifications to homeowners who are facing foreclosure on their primary residence.
Quote on CRA • The revisions (in 1995) helped to stimulate increased lending and investment activity in low- and moderate-income areas. In fact, some studies suggest that these changes to the regulations coincided with an increase in annual lending commitments from $ 1.6 billion in 1990 to $103 billion in 1999.
Quote on CRA contd. • From a consumer perspective, the fact that Congress amended the CRA statute in 1989 to make evaluations public provided the transparency necessary to help create a dialogue between banks and community advocates. This dialogue contributed to an increased number of public/private partnerships that were uniquely successful in addressing the economic and community development needs of lower-income communities
What is Abusive Lending: Not Community Lending Prime lending – market rate lending to creditworthy borrowers Subprime lending – high-cost lending to borrowers with imperfect credit Predatory lending – higher interest rates and fees beyond what is necessary to compensate for added risk of lending to borrowers with credit imperfections. Unfair and deceptive practices – could be prime Option ARM loans with teaser rates that increase dramatically & borrower was not told. Also violate fair lending laws. 14 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
How Did it Happen? Lack of Regulation: Mortgage Companies & Wall Street Market Failure: Information Assymetry or Imbalance of Knowledge: Stiglitz markets don’t work well with imbalance, which is most of the time Not Internalizing Negative Externalities of Action – Lack of Financial Liability Oligolopolistic Pricing Behavior Non-prime (sub & ALT A) lending rose from 12% of all loans ($125 billion in ’00) to 34% of all lending ($1 trillion in ’06) – GAO (Dec 16, 09)
Risk Layering MBA – 39% of loans were interest only or option ARM in 2006; 2% in 2000 75% of subprime MBS pools were 2/28 or 3/27 Only 61% subprime ARM loans are full doc; 74% of ARM subprime have prepay penalties; 41% DTI. 41% DTI is guideline in FHA lending: in subprime lending, portion with DTI > 41% rose from 47% in 2000 to 59% in 2007 (GAO July 09) Subprime ARMs portion low- or no-doc from 20% in ’00 to 40% in ’06. ALT-A – 64% in ’03 to 80% in ’06 (Fed HOEPA rule) Share of Alt-A loans with > 90% LTV – 2% in ’98 to 32% in ’06 (Sengupta, St. Louis Fed, Jan. ’10) 16 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
Monthly payments of loans adjusting in 2009 and 2010 are expected to increase with $1,053 on average .
Steering Data analysis reveals likely possibility of steering Steering is making a high cost loan to a borrower who qualifies for a lower cost loan Oligopoly and lessened competition in minority neighborhoods Equity drain and/or delinquencies and foreclosures Some of the next slides from NCRC Income is No Shield study available via http://www.ncrc.org 21 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
Control for Creditworthiness: Still More High Cost Loans in Minority Neighborhoods: NCRC’s Broken Credit System report
Fed Reserve Research Quartile of tracts in Cuyhoga with highest foreclosure rates (19%) were 73% African-American & 63% of loans were high-cost, Lisa Nelson, Cleve Fed, Sept 08 SF Fed, Reid - African-Americans 1.8 times more likely than whites to be in foreclosure, Latino and Asians were 1.4 and 1.3 more likely to be in foreclosure than whites Boston Fed – Willen – increase in minority homeownership due to subprime lending wiped out by terminations (sales and foreclosures, foreclosures rapidly increasing share of terminations)
Disparities for African-Americans and Whites Increase with Income
Distribution of Loans to LMI Borrowers in Greenville, NC MSA, 2006 LMI African-Americans LMI Whites LMI African-Americanborrowers were 3.5 times more likely to receive a high-cost loan than LMI white borrowers.
Distribution of Loans to MUI Borrowers in Greenville MSA, 2006 MUI African-Americans MUI Whites MUI African-Americanborrowers were 4.2 times more likely to receive a high-cost loan than MUI white borrowers.
Redlining Still Alive and Well Redlined Communities More Likely to Experience Predatory Lending
Relationship between Branches & Lending Bank Branch Locations by Minority Level of Neighborhood
Delinquencies 28% of subprime ARMs seriously delinquent in May ’08, 5 times the mid-’05 rate (Fed HOEPA rule, July ’08). 38% of short-term hybrid ARMs & 30% of payment-option ARMs delinquent by March ’09 (GAO July 09), 33% of option-ARMs by June 2003 Alt A delinquencies were 2% by 2nd calendar year; 2006 Alt A 16.4% by end of 2nd calendar year (Sengupta, St. Louis Fed, 1/10) 5.2 million active non-prime (subprime & ALT A) loans, 25% in default or in foreclosure process (GAO July 09) 33 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
Foreclosure Rates 1.7 million of the 14.4 million non-prime loans originated between ’00 and ’07 or 12% in foreclosure (GAO, Dec 16 09) 2.8 million properties had foreclosure filings in 2009 Credit Suisse – 8 to 10 million foreclosures in the next four years 34 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
FHA Difficulties Rapid expansion – 2 to 30% of the market Inadequate policing capacity – HUD staffing levels have not kept up. Over 9,200 FHA loans during the past year entered into default after no or only one borrower payment, triple the rate of previous years FHA delinquency & foreclosure rate 8% in 2009; 5.4% in 2008
Consequences of Foreclosure Joint Economic Committee estimates 2 million subprime foreclosures from 2007- 2009 (Oct 07) 2nd half of 07 through 09, $71 billion in housing wealth lost & $32 billion lost in neighboring properties 25% of nonprime borrowers had negative equity as of June ’09, 16 large MSAs, 60% of nonprime borrowers; negative equity was $54 billion or $36,000 for median borrower (GAO, Dec 09) $3.3 trillion lost in total home values in 2008 alone; $13 trillion since crisis began 36 National Community Reinvestment Coalition ▪http://www.ncrc.org ▪ 202-628-8866
Home Affordable Modification Program 854,000 active mods done by end of Dec But only 66,000 permanent mods Trial mods as share of eligible delinquent loans ranges from 46% for Saxon, JP Morgan Chase 36%, Bank of America 19% (Dec 09 Dept of Treas) OCC/OTS for every 6 borrowers in serious delinquency or foreclosure in 3rd qtr, 1 received loan mod or trial plan (HAMP & non-HAMP) Foreclosure filings on 2 to 3 million annual clip
Wanted: Federal Anti-Predatory Legislation Consumer Protections Protections applied to all loans – prime, subprime & FHA No steering Broker fiduciary relationship with borrower, compensate over life of loan performance, instead of immediately Ability to Pay: PITI, maximum possible rate Verification of Income required Escrows for subprime & non-traditional prime loans
Desired Elements for Legislation Prohibition on prepayment penalties for subprime and ARM & other non-trad loans; No financing points and fees in subprime and non-traditional prime loans Prohibit Appraisal Fraud and servicing abuse Assignee liability…that is hold Wall Street accountable
Legislation Pending Senator Chris Dodd – S. 2452, Home Ownership Preservation and Protection Act of 2007 introduced in 110th Congress Rep. Barney Frank – H.R. 1728, Mortgage Reform & Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009 Both offer comprehensive protections but prefer S. 2452 which holds Wall Street accountable and does not preempt state law H.R. 1728 was attached to H.R. 4173 in Dec ‘09
H.R. 1479 CRA Mod Act of 2009 Introduced by Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Luis Gutierrez Improves CRA as applied to banks Enhances data disclosure Applies CRA to non-bank institutions
Improve CRA as Applied to Banks Lending, investing, and service to minorities considered by CRA exams – increase responsible lending to minorities Bolster penalties for predatory & discriminatory lending and financing of predatory lending Assessment area reform More hearings during merger applications
Enhance Data Disclosure HMDA improved to include credit score, debt-to-income, LTV, & other underwriting criteria Loan performance database on default, foreclosure, and loan modifications Race and gender for small business lending
Apply CRA to Non-Banks Independent Mortgage Companies Mainstream Credit Unions Insurance Companies Securities Firms Investment Banks All affiliates of banks
Financial Regulatory Reform: the CFPA Replace multiple agencies with CFPA (Consumer Financial Protection Agency); end regulatory shopping by banks CRA still enforced by existing agencies in House version (HR 4173 – Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act), but not Senate discussion draft (but Senate is up in the air) Exemption from CFPA oversight for banks with assets under $10 billion in House but not Senate Other exemptions for automobile dealers, merchants, insurers in House, but not Senate Oversight board – existing regulators initially in House bill but will transition to commission; Senate has a voting board of 5 members, not from existing agencies
Foreclosure Prevention Obama plan most comprehensive to date Writing down interest rate to 31% debt-to-income good, but does plan need to pay more attention to principal write-downs (about 13% of mods reduce principal – OCC/OTS). Loan mods reducing monthly payment 20% or more less likely to re-default Will voluntary participation be enough – NCRC HELP Now proposal
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) is an association of more than 600 community-based organizations that promote access to basic banking services including credit and savings, to create and sustain affordable housing, job development and vibrant communities for America's working families. Our members include community reinvestment organizations, community development corporations, local and state government agencies, faith-based institutions, community organizing and civil rights groups, minority and women-owned business associations, local and social service providers from across the nation
For more information: National Community Reinvestment Coalition 727 15th Street, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 P: (202) 628.8866 F: (202) 628.9800 www.ncrc.org