Stakeholder feedback has highlighted that each of these areas is essential to LMI communities. The standalone Retail Lending Test is important to stay true to the CRA’s core focus on providing credit in underserved communities. Retail lending is the channel through which a family can get a mortgage to buy its first house and an entrepreneur can get a loan for a small business.
Retail services are the channel through which an LMI household might get access to essential services from a local bank branch, such as a low-cost checking account. Community development financing captures bank lending and investments that create and maintain affordable housing, promote economic development, and revitalize and stabilize LMI communities.