From: aoapoplar@earthlink.net [mailto:aoapoplar@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 4:35 PM
To: Comments
Subject: SPAM::Community Reinvestment - RIN 3064-AC50
name: Allison Adams
address: 142 Poplar Circle
city_st: Decatur, GA
zipcode: 30030
I strongly oppose the proposed rule changes in the Community
Reinvestment Act (RIN 3064-AC50). This action will do harm to rural
communities. : Southern Bancorp, a bank in the Mississippi Delta, plows
100% of it's profits back into four non-profit agencies--a community
development fund, two housing assistance funds, and an alternative
lender. They are able to do this because large banks give them the
financing money to use as part of their Community Reinvestment Act
commitment. Southern Bancorp makes loans in the very poorest part of the
country. Thanks to their work, a great number of small and mid-sized
towns in the Delta can now point to improvements in their quality of
life, in their prospects for the future, in their hopes for their
children. Southern was critical in getting a medical center to locate in
Helena, Ark, in the heart of the Delta. Southern's affiliate land
development lender was able to renovate parts of downtown Arkedelphia,
turning an 85 percent vac!
ancy rate into a 90 percent occupancy rate.
Without the CRA, Southern will be unable to do much of its work, and
will undoubtably eventually be swallowed up by a major regional or
national bank with no particular interest in keeping branches open in
communities in which the median income is below the poverty line.
Please do not allow this to happen. Do not approve the proposed rule
changes.
