When we manage our Community Reinvestment Act programs, we tend to focus on data analysis, quantifying investments, and somehow making enough loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers to get at least a "Satisfactory" rating.
But CRA is about more than counting up loans and investments. CRA is all about making a difference by making key features of banking services accessible to everyone, regardless of income level. Too often, top management thinks of CRA as some form of regulatory burden and the compliance manager's assignment is to keep the burden off of management's back. We do this with numbers games. We plug holes in our investment portfolio and we check on what time other institutions are open or closed. We also think of low- and moderate-income customers as the bottom of the totem pole. When we do this, we lose sight of what our CRA program should be doing: ensuring that all qualified applicants have access to credit that they need for purposes such as buying a home or a car that actually runs.
I recently had an experience with some low- and moderate-income workers and I'd like to think that if they come to your institution for credit, they would be treated like royalty. I'm talking about the police, fire, and emergency response personnel.
While sitting in a long line of traffic on a very rainy day waiting for an interminably long light to change and let a few of us through, my world exploded. (So did my schedule, but that's another story.) While idling at a standstill with my foot on the brake, my car suddenly seemed to explode. It turned out that a large pick-up truck towing a large spool of cable had crashed into my car from behind. It was a pretty impressive impact. In fact, I thought it was a bomb. The crash did enough damage that the investigating officer, when told something was in the trunk, said "Ma'am, you don't have a trunk any more."
When something like this happens, when you are catapulted from a state of control into a total lack-of-control. You need others to take over. The others, in this case, were the police, fire, and emergency management teams who responded - fast. Suddenly, everything was in their capable hands.
Rescuing accident victims and getting them out safely is their business, and these folks were all business. As soon as they arrived on the scene, they went right to work. First was the quick check to determine injuries and set priorities for care. Then they provided the care. Within what seemed like only a few seconds, I found myself strapped to a board, and they were taking pulse, blood pressure, checking pupils and testing for injuries. This was their work and they did it efficiently and well.
The investigating police officer - young and fairly new on the force - managed to get all the right information, dispatch damaged vehicles to the right place, and fill out layers of paperwork. This included dealing with the people in the truck who spoke almost no English. It was a touchy situation and he handled it well. I can't say much else about what happened at the scene because the EMS folks carted me off to the nearest hospital (after checking to be sure that there were no back-ups in the emergency room).
What does this have to do with CRA? Ask yourself what we pay these wonderful people who turn chaos into order? How much economic value do we place on the people whom we expect to rescue us from situations like this? We may make jokes about firemen sitting around the firehouse playing cards, but when the emergency happens, we expect them to jump on their truck, race to the scene, and operate at peak performance - often in the face of danger. When you are the accident, you want nothing less. These people did just that.
When I asked the police officer why he chose his work, he responded "it is what I always wanted to do." I like having people like that on the force. You should want them as customers, even if they aren't paid as much as the CEO of Enron.
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