Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

Under the regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a depository institution subject to the CRA must maintain a public file that includes, among other items, all written comments received from the public for the current year and each of the prior two calendar years that specifically relate to the institution's performance in helping to meet community credit needs. The institution must also include any response to those comments, as long as neither the comments nor the responses reflect adversely on the good name or reputation of any persons other than the institution, or publication of which would violate specific provisions of law. A depository institution subject to the CRA should ensure that its policies and procedures addressing public comments take into account such comments when they are received through social media sites run by or on behalf of the institution. However, under the CRA, comments about the institution made on the Internet through sites that are not run by or on behalf of the institution are not necessarily deemed to have been received by the depository institution and would not be required to be retained. Rather, the institution should retain comments made on sites run by or on behalf of the institution that specifically relate to the institution's performance in helping to meet community credit needs.

Sources: FFIEC; CRA