| As FinTechs Like NewTek Snub
Small Business While At PPP Trough CRA Should
Apply Inner City Press Says
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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BRONX / SDNY,
April 25 – So-called fintech
firms like Square
and Kabbage have been trying
to get into the banking field
without complying with the
Community Reinvestment Act,
which would measure and
require their minimal fairness
to low- and moderate-income
communities. Now they're at
the Paycheck Protection
Program trough, along with
NewTek.
NewTekOne.com is (mis) serving
small businesses in many
communities; look for example
here
at the City of Detroit's PPP
website, where it is listed
among lenders willing unlike
Chase and Bank of America to
take non customers - well,
some of them. Here's a sample
complaint:
"Contacted my
bank today to follow up again.
Got the website for newtekone,
the lender handling the
majority of applicants for the
PPP. I called them, verified
the app submitted on Apr 3rd
was rec'vd Apr 6th. 1099 &
sole proprietor had to wait
until 10th to apply. By the
time we could apply the
program ran out of $$ days
later and I still haven't even
received the full application
by email yet 17 days later.
Newtekone confirmed today I'm
in queue & should still
receive the application."
And thus
are small business jobs lost,
as with Junior's in Brooklyn
and Times Square for other
reasons. But why are lenders
like NewTekOne at the trough,
without oversight?
In fairness,
NewTekOne says, "Newtracker is
fully transparent, allowing
our referral partner to follow
a referral from cradle to
closing. Partners also receive
periodic reporting in addition
to creating an easily
accessible audit and
compliance trail."
Transparency only to referral
partners? We say, more
oversight, and CRA - or oust
them. And others.
These
evasions of CRA have been
assisted by the US Comptroller
of the Currency Joseph Otting,
who has been attacking
CRA ever since he was outed
submitting fake comments to
support the sale of his
OneWest Bank to
CIT.
Now under the
Paycheck Protection Program
Square is bragging about
having been approved to make
SBA loans; Kabbage says the
same, through through a fig
leaf fiction with Celtic Bank.
So why are there any CRA
requirements on these lenders
getting into this government
program? Inner City Press /
Fair Finance Watch has been
raising the issue for week,
including to Congressional
leadership. #TreasureCRA. Now
we are compiling formal
comments for submission to the
SBA, on their already final
but still "interim" rule.
Watch this site.
***
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