From:
McKay, Cathy [mailto:CMcKay@palosbank.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:33 PM
To: regs.comments@federalreserve.gov; Comments; regs.comments@occ.treas.gov;
regs.comments@ots.treas.gov
Subject: EGRPRA
This comment is in reference to FIL-10-2004 regarding the reduction
of regulatory burden from Lending Related Consumer Protection Rules.
I have been a bank compliance officer for over 20 years. I offer
the following comments.
1) Currently, monitoring data is collection for Regulation B (Reg
B Monitoring Information) and also for Regulation C (HMDA). This
information relative to race and sex is redundant. It is recommended
that data be collected on race and sex for HMDA reporting purposes
only. The other requirements for Reg B Monitoring Information are
age and marital status. Is this information being used by the regulatory
agencies or is the collection of this information an unnecessary
burden for banks? A common violation for bankers is to have Reg B
Monitoring Info in files where this information should not have been
collected e.g. a car loan. It may, in fact, have been collected for
a separate credit and multiple loans may be housed in the same loan
files. IT WOULD HELP BANKERS AVOID THIS COMMON VIOLATION if Reg B
Monitoring Info was not collected. Please ELIMINATE Reg B Monitoring
data collection.
2) Also, relative to the collection of information on race, sex,
and ethicity--these catagories are controversial among compliance
professionals and bankers alike. The information is NOT collected
as part of the CRA data collection process. Why collect it at all
for loans? Is the government itself perpetuating the racial categorization
of individuals? What about other ethnicities besides Hispanics? What
about Polish, Irish, Kenyan, and Japanese? The 'Ethnicity' category
stimulates much discussion--not necessarily healthy or professional.
One example from a seminar I attended is this (true story): A Chinese
couple moved to Cuba. There they had a daughter. They next moved
to Little Havana in Florida. Although of Asian ancestral desent,
the daughter was raised and lives in a Latino environment. Is the
daughter Hispanic? Another example comes from my days working for
the 2000 census. I met with a 'Hispanic' family. They did not know
what racial category to select--black? white? . . . Please ELIMINATE
or CLARIFY ethnic and racial data collection.
3) In relation to the US PATRIOT Act, traditionally, bankers have
not kept copies of licenses in the loan files. I spoke with FDIC
examiner Steve Murphy about this during our last exam. He stated
that although copies of licenses are not formally forbidden in Reg
B, banks customarily do not keep copies of licenses in loan files
for fear that they will be cited for some type of fair lending violation.
PLEASE CLARIFY, that in light of the enhanced recordkeeping requirements
of the US PATRIOT Act, it is okay for bankers to retain license copies
within their loan files. Note: If we have a loan file, then we've
approved the credit, therefore, there was no discrimination on the
part of the lender based on alleged racial profiling from a license
photo anyway.
Thank you for your consideration
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