FDIC Federal Register Citations

From: Bbayes2@aol.com [mailto:Bbayes2@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:21 PM
To: Comments
Subject: Proposed CRA revisions

To Whom It May Concern:

I strongly object to changing the standards for bank participation in the Community Reinvestment Act. I live in a small town in a largely rural state. We have a few large banks but most are smaller and would lose the requirement that they reinvest in serving the poor in their communities through lending, investing, and providing services.

I work with a program that partners with a small bank to provide modest interest rate loans to working poor families so they will have transportation to get to work. This is an allowed CRA activity for smaller banks. Larger banks would not meet their CRA mandate in this project because their CRA activities have to revolve around housing and business loans, not small loans like what we and our partner bank provide. The services we provide are extremely important to our clients. The TO in Ways to Work is the second most common barrier that low income families face in trying to get on their economic feet.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to comment.
Barbara Bayes, Director
Good News MOuntaineer Garage
221 1/2 Hale St
Charleston, WV 25301
304-344-8445