Barney Frank: “Of all of the unfair accusations, the one that blames the Community Reinvestment Act for this is the strongest. The…”

“Of all of the unfair accusations, the one that blames the Community Reinvestment Act for this is the strongest. The Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977. This subprime crisis, of course, did not appear until nearly 30 years later; but more important, the subprime loans that caused problems were overwhelmingly made by institutions not covered by the Community Reinvestment Act. It covers depository institutions: banks and thrifts and credit unions. Credit unions aren't covered. Banks and thrifts. If only those institutions, deposit-taking, regulated institutions covered by CRA had made these loans, we wouldn't have had the crisis. The loans were made by institutions not covered by CRA 30 years, 28 years after CRA was passed.”