Homeownership is a crucial step to building wealth, but for many in rural communities, this component of the American dream can often be very elusive. Consumer-focused banks that provide home loans to homebuyers are scarce and rural families are more likely to be impoverished than the rest of the families, with about half of them spending 50% of their monthly income on rent, according to the Housing Assistance Council. 

The fight for fair lending got a big boost on Aug. 31 when a federal court rejected a payday loan collector’s attempt to evade consumer laws. The decision against CashCall, a California-based online payday and installment lender, upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority to investigate and fine lenders for unfair, abusive or deceptive practices. The court ruling is a key step in a legal battle that began nearly three years ago.

The Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policy and post-crisis regulatory structure is having an unintended and counterproductive effect: it's making it harder for ordinary Americans to get ahead. That argument, detailed in a paper released Monday by Federal Financial Analytics, analyzed academic research from across the globe to assess the impact of the prolonged ultra-low interest rate environment on asset prices. The conclusion is that while those accommodative policies have spurred economic activity in some areas, it has primarily resulted in the growth of assets like equities and... Read more

Carver Federal Savings Bank CEO Michael T. Pugh was recently interviewed on The Karen Hunter Show, which airs on SiriusXM Urban View, Channel 126. During the interview, Mr. Pugh spoke with Karen Hunter about the challenges and opportunities that Black-managed banks face and how important a bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) Rating is to determining whether that bank is providing loan capital to the communities it operates in.

The Financial CHOICE Act would change the CFPB’s structure and regulatory power, and would help community financial institutions by ending Operation Choke Point.

Banks, weighing factors that include cost-efficient underwriting, keeping credit losses under control, and regulators' caution on products such as deposit advance, struggle to create workable credit products that meet the short-term borrowing needs of low- and moderate-income customers. This prevents those customers from climbing the traditional bank credit ladder, and drives them to seek other options. Consequently, the landscape is saturated with more than 50,000 alternative financial services storefronts and websites that include check cashers, auto title lenders, pawnshops and the like... Read more

Southern Bancorp CEO, Darrin Williams, was recently presented the Supporting Organization of the Year award on behalf of Southern Bancorp for the community development bank’s efforts to support minority business growth from the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce during Minority Enterprise Development Week.

Banking in St. Paul is easy. Or at least when compared to Los Angeles, where David Reiling worked for First Interstate Bank fresh out of college. “The first two weeks I was there, the bank I was in got robbed three times,” Reiling said. That didn’t deter him, though. Reiling has made a career out of working in inner-city banks, finding his stride in developing communities through financial services. He’s been with St. Paul-based Sunrise Banks, which aims to bring financial empowerment to underserved populations, for 20 years. For the past 12 years he’s been CEO.