Some Housing alert

Extended deadline:

October 20

Urgent:

Preserve CRA in 1O minutes

Please

take a few minutes right now to write a brief e-mail comment and ask all

your colleagues to write one to preserve the Community Reinvestment Act

against a very serious threat. Comments are due October 20. Thank

you to the 861 people who responded to our first Alert in September.  We

need another big effort in the next week.

Background

Under current rules, small banks with assets under $250 million undergo a

limited CRA exam that covers only some basic lending activities. Larger

banks undergo a full CRA exam that covers lending, investments, and

services. Now the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has proposed

to allow all banks with assets under $1 billion to have the limited exam.

Only 4% of FDIC-regulated banks would face a full CRA exam. This change

would harm low- and moderate-income communities, and leave some states with

no banks subject to a full CRA exam. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)

has already finalized a similar rule. The two other regulators, the Federal

Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are

considering a similar change. Other changes could also follow.

It is critical that including community organizations and the general

public submit comments to the FDIC opposing the proposed change
. The

FDIC has already received a record 7,000 comments, but the majority are

from small banks supporting the FDIC’s proposal. The Fed and the OCC are

watching closely to see whether community groups care. This is an

important moment for maintaining and expanding bank involvement in

communities.

How To Send a Comment
It is really

quick and easy. Just visit the target=”_blank” href=”http://lisc.org/cgi-bin/tr.pl?date=2004/oct/13&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efdic%2Egov%2Fregulations%2Flaws%2Ffederal%2Fpropose%2Ehtml”

>FDIC website
and find “Community Reinvestment 12 CFR

Part 345″. Click on “Submit Comment” and type in your comment. Your comment

can be very simple. For example:

“I oppose the FDIC’s proposal to

allow banks with assets above $250 million to be examined as small banks

under the Community Reinvestment Act. This policy would reduce lending,

investments and services in low-income communities.”

That’s all

there is to it. Of course, feel free to write more if you wish.

For more information on this issue, please go to target=”_blank” href=”http://lisc.org/cgi-bin/tr.pl?date=2004/oct/13&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encrc%2Eorg”>National Community Reinvestment Coalition or target=”_blank” href=”http://lisc.org/cgi-bin/tr.pl?date=2004/oct/13&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enaahl%2Eorg”>National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders. We

also encourage you sign on to group letters that organizations may have,

but that is no substitute for sending individual letters.

THANK

YOU.

 


Big pile of mouse dung

That’s what the Pro-Tech guy found in the corner of the basement. A big pile of mouse dung. I thought it was wood rot.
This Summer we got a mouse problem. The last straw occurred last week when I went in the kitchen, turned on the light and saw 2 mice scurry into the stove. That and the ever increasing mouse evidence I see in the kitchen. Absolutely unacceptable. That’s and my traps don’t seem to be working. Darned things have eaten the peanut butter off the traps without getting snapped. There is a glue trap that keeps moving to various spots under the fridge. Time to call the professionals.
The guy came out yesterday and looked in the basement and the first level. He did ask about the top level but didn’t venture there. There is evidence of mouse invasion up there too. I had a bar of Ivory soap under my bed, 1/2 eaten. Unacceptable.
Sitting down to tell me about the different packages and what the company does to deal with my mice problem the guy decided to try humor. He said the initial job is $2,800. As I mentioned before in a previous post, thousand is a very bad word in my house. I reacted by arching my eyebrow. He tried to explain his joke and I explained that “thousand” is verboten. The actual price is $280something with followups being $80some odd dollars every quarter.
Not only will he deal with the mice, he said they deal with spiders and other bugs. I have no real problem with the spiders in the house, provided they stay in the basement, and out of my way. I’ve been lucky in that I rarely see bugs in the house.
Anyway, they worked miracles in M&K’s house where there were rats and many roaches. I hope they can get rid of our mice, so there will be no more huge piles of mouse dung.