CRA for Mortgage Lenders in Massachusetts, 2008-2015

May 17, 2016

A new report released by the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC), “CRA for Mortgage Lenders in Massachusetts, 2008-2015” highlights that community reinvestment regulation seems to have had a positive impact on the relative performance of Licensed Mortgage Lenders (LMLs) in meeting the needs of traditionally underserved borrowers and neighborhoods.

In the first report of its kind, MCBC provides information on the state law passed in 2007, which mirrors existing federal and state CRA requirements over depository institutions and calls for lenders to meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income borrowers and geographies when originating residential loans or acquiring mortgage portfolios in the Commonwealth. These requirements are further elaborated by regulation (see 209 CMR 54.00) whereby the Division of Banks (the Division), as the state regulator overseeing state-chartered and licensed financial institutions, is tasked with the CRA supervision of LMLs.