The 1977 federal law that directs bank regulators to assess how well each bank helps meet the credit needs of its local communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
Under the CRA, the OCC, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC each examine the banks and savings associations they supervise and assign one of four ratings: outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve or substantial noncompliance. The regulator takes that record into account when the bank asks for permission to open a branch or merge. Credit unions and non-bank lenders are outside the law.
The rules in use today date largely from 1995. A 2023 rewrite was halted by a federal court before it took effect, and the agencies have said the earlier rules, as they stood on March 29, 2024, are the ones they follow. In August 2026 the OCC and FDIC proposed further changes, with comments due October 13, 2026, so details may shift.
Size sets the exam. For 2026 the Federal Reserve and FDIC define a small bank as one with assets under $1.649 billion, and an intermediate small bank as a small bank with at least $412 million.
For a borrower, the CRA explains motive. A bank earns credit for small business loans, affordable housing loans and community development loans inside the areas it serves, so those requests get attention there.
How it shows up in the data here
CRA ratings and CRA loan files are not loaded on this site. The figures here come from call reports, NCUA reports, HMDA and SBA records, listed on the sources page. What you can see is the lending CRA looks at: where a bank has branches and what it holds, through lenders by state and search. Read a bank's CRA evaluation on its regulator's site.
Go further
- Lenders by state: Banks with offices in each state.
- Search banks: Banks by loans held.
- Sources: What this site loads and what it does not.
- How to read Community Reinvestment Act data: CRA data is the only public count of small business and small farm loans made by county. It is reported by larger banks only, in three size bands, with no borrower and no loan detail.
- How to pick banks for a deal with public data: Public filings cannot tell you which bank will say yes. They can tell you which banks are large enough, already hold loans like yours and lend where the property is. That is enough to turn four thousand banks into six phone calls.
Related terms
- Assessment area: The geographic area a bank draws around its main office, branches and deposit-taking ATMs, inside which regulators judge its record under the Community Reinvestment Act.
- Small business loan (CRA and call report definition): In bank reporting, a business loan with an original amount of $1,000,000 or less that is a commercial and industrial loan or is secured by nonfarm nonresidential real estate.
- Community development loan: Under the Community Reinvestment Act rules, a loan whose primary purpose is community development, such as affordable housing or financing for small businesses and farms.
- Community bank: A community bank is a smaller bank that takes deposits and lends mostly in the area around its offices, and decides on loans close to home.
- Community development financial institution (CDFI): A lender the Treasury's CDFI Fund has certified as having a primary mission of community development and serving a defined target market.
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA): The federal law that makes mortgage lenders collect and publish loan-level data on loans secured by a dwelling, including apartment buildings and 1-4 unit rentals.
Sources
- Appendix G to 12 CFR part 345, Community Reinvestment Regulations (part 345 as of March 31, 2024), sections 345.11, 345.21 and 345.12(u), retrieved .
- Community Reinvestment Act Regulations Asset-Size Thresholds, 91 FR 509 (Federal Reserve and FDIC), effective .
- Community Reinvestment Act Regulations, proposed rule, 91 FR 52114 (OCC and FDIC; status of the 2023 rules and the rules now in use), published .
Plain definitions for orientation, not legal, tax or credit advice. A lender's own policy decides what it will do.