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Trustmark Skates on RedliningAfter
Citizens Bank Thumbed Nose At CRA
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Story Order
FEDERAL COURT / S
Bronx, May 30 – The future
of the U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act is in the
balance.
DOJ claimed
to be enforcing, with a
"settlement with Trustmark
National Bank. The agreement
resolves allegations that
Trustmark engaged in lending
discrimination by redlining
predominantly Black and
Hispanic neighborhoods in
Memphis, Tennessee. We commend
Trustmark for its cooperation
in swiftly resolving this
matter. Through this
settlement, Trustmark has
shown an interest in remedying
past practices and in
promoting equal access to
credit."
Now in May 2025,
a motion "Plaintiffs the
United States of America
(“United States”) and the
Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau (“Bureau”), by and
through undersigned counsel,
file this unopposed motion to
provide the Court with a
status update and to
respectfully request
termination of the Consent
Order and dismissal of this
case with prejudice.."
But what about
larger banks like Citizens and
Investors Bank?
Investors Bank was one of the
most disparate banks in New
York State, where in 2020 it
made only three mortgage loans
to African Americans, while
denying fully seven
applications from African
Americans. By contrast, it
made 164 loans to whites while
denying only 76 applications
from whites.
Inner City
Press raised the 2019
disparities to the FDIC - and
on July 30 was contacted by
the FDIC that it imposed rare
conditions on Investors.
Letter here.
This was raised on Citizens'
applications: "be aware that
based on Fair Finance Watch's
comments to the FDIC about
Investors, it recently imposed
a condition on Investors.
Investors has yet to
meaningfully implement the
required improvements; this
application should not be
approved, much less at this
time. The
FDIC wrote:
"Matthew
Lee, Esquire Executive
Director Inner City Press/Fair
Finance Watch Dear Mr.
Lee: We are writing to inform
you that the FDIC approved
Investors Bank’s application
to acquire eight branches from
Berkshire Bank. As part of the
application review process, we
investigated the issues you
raised in your e-mail dated
January 19, 2019... The Bank
will develop and Board approve
an Action Plan within 60 days
of the effective date of
this Order to ensure that its
home mortgage lending
adequately addresses the
credit needs of all segments
of its market areas. The
Action Plan should
include, at a minimum, the
following: a. The Bank will
regularly monitor application
and origination activity of
home mortgage loans in
majority-minority census
tracts and from Blacks
throughout the Bank’s
assessment areas. b. The
Bank will ensure marketing and
outreach efforts are inclusive
of all communities,
including minority communities
within all the Bank’s
assessment areas. The
marketing and outreach efforts
should focus on home mortgage
product awareness.
Marketing activities should
use materials and media that
reflect the racial and
ethnic composition of
the targeted communities. The
Bank should also have
specific advertising and
outreach goals, and the
results of these efforts
should be documented,
monitored, and evaluated for
effectiveness. 5. Upon
Board approval of this Order,
the Bank will provide a copy
of the signed Order to
the FDIC's New York Regional
Office within 30 days.
6. Upon Board approval of such
Action Plan, the Bank will
provide a copy of the
Plan to the FDIC’s New
York Regional Office. 7. The
Bank will provide the FDIC’s
New York Regional Office with
quarterly updates
detailing its progress in
meeting the goals listed in
the Action Plan."
What is
the future of the CRA?
***
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