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%u201cAnti-redlining groups see the CRA statements as useless,while federal agencies sag theg hold adequate information. %u201dGreater New York Savings Bank, with a branch office at 110 7th Avenue in Park Slope published a 10 page CRA statement including a map delineating the bank%u2019s service area block by block. This area is roughly bordered by 40th Street, Hoyt Street, Fulton Street, and 12th Avenue covering Park Slope and some of Sunset Park. Greater lists its types of credit available as residential loans on 1-4 family dwellings, home improvement loans, home equipping loans, student loans, overdraft loans, and passbook loans.Greater%u2019s statement also discusses other efforts on the Bak%u2019s part to ascertain and meet community credit needs such as advertising, making loan applications available, participating in local community development projects, making periodic reports regarding their credit program, meeting with neighborhood groups, real estate brokers, and attor. :ys, and encouraging its perso: nel to become involved in neighborhood programs.The Green Point Savings Bankwith an office at 856 Washington Avenue in Crown Heights put out a 2Vi page CRA statement plus a large map describing its service area by census tract. The Washington Avenue branch serves an area in Crown Heights circumscribed by New%u2018 York Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, 8th Avenue, 5th Street, and Lefferts Avenue. Its statement announces credit offerings in the form of mortgage loans, home improvement loans, and student loans. In great contrast to the CRA statements issued by most other banks. Greenpoint%u2019s actually include some figures, such as that 99.9 percent of its morgage portfolio is invested in New York State, and 83.9 percent in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County.Of its total assets. 75 percent areinvested in a mortgage portfolio, 94.7 percent of which goes to residential loans, Green Point%u2019s statement also mentions other ways that the bank has sought to meet community credit needs: advertising, participating in local meetings, and giving assistance %u201c to all responsible community organizations concerned with the stability, development, revitalization, and preservation of the neighborhoods we serve.%u201d Emigrant Savings Bank with a branch at 418 Myrtle Avenue inFort Greene put out the most lengthy CRA statement of all the banks surveyed. However, approximately 20 pages of its statement consists of copies of ads Emigrant has placed, and copies of letters sent by and to Emigrant regarding contributions to various community programs. The map delineating Emigrant's service area by blocks shows that it concentrates on the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill areas.Emigrant offers 1-2 family loans, multi-family apartment house loans, co-operative apartment loans, home improvement loans, industrial building loans, commercial building loans, student loans, and overdraft loans. Emigrant%u2019s CRA statement, unlike that of most other banks, gives many of the terms of their loans. Its statement also contains a listing of many of the community projects Emigrant has contributed to, along with the amounts of money given.Independence Savings Bank,which has its main office at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street in downtown Brooklyn, put out a 13 page typewritten CRA statement, Its map marks out a service area by census tracts, and shows that Independence makes credit available to an area roughly covering parts of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Cobble Hill, and surrounded bv Hamilton Avenue, 4th Avenue, FlatbushAvenue, Hudson Avenue, and the East River. According to its CRA statem ent, Emigrant offers the following types of loans: 1-4 family purchase and finance, multi-family and commercial property mortgages, multi-family conversions and rehabilitations, condominiums, home improvement, student, passbook, and overdraft.Independence%u2019s statement goes to the unusual length of giving figures on the amounts of some types of loans offered. In addition, the statement lists some of the projects Independence has participated in, and the dollar value of its contributions.Lincoln Savings Bank, headquartered on Broadway in Williamburgh, is 1 Va pages long plus three pages of maps. According to its map of Brooklyn, Lincoln offers loans in all parts of Brooklyn. Lincoln, according to its statement, offers residential first mortgage loans on 1-4 family and 5 unit and over dwellings, co-op apartment loans, other real estate mortgage loans such as on churches and hospitals, home improvement loans, and student loans.Lincoln%u2019s statement also briefly discusses the bank%u2019s efforts to ascertain credit needs by meeting and consulting with various community groups and real estate brokers. In addition it describes Lincoln%u2019s marketing program, which consists of mass media advertising, with %u201c special emphasis given to those areas in which the Bank has a presence and where there is an aging housing stock.\Metropolitan Savings Bank, located at 395 Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn, is 3Vs typewritten pages long. No map was attached to the statement, and the bank employee questioned said that she had never seen one, though the written one referred to a map. Metropolitan states that %u201c ourlending community includes all types ot neighborhoods ana districts, and all persons of all income levels and races.%u201d It then defines Metropolitan%u2019s %u201c primary lending area%u201d as %u201cthe midpoint distance to the nearest surrounding savings banks.%u201d Credit is offered for FHA and VA mortgage loans on 1-4 family dwellings, FHA home improvement loans, co-op apartment loans, condominium loans, FHA insured multi-family project loans, and education loans.The bank%u2019s statement also includes a listing of community activities Metropolitan has participated in, but does not give any idea of the size of M etropolitan%u2019s contribution.The Williamsburgh SavingsBank, known throughout Brooklyn for its landmark location on Flatbush Avenue, put out a 3 page long statement plus map. According to its statement, Williamsburgh accepts loan applications for 1-4 family houses, multi-family and income properties, co-ops, community rehabilitation projects, home improvement loans, education loans, and passbook loans. Williamsburgh%u2018s statement lists some of the projects the bank has participated in, along with the amounts of money given, and also announces that the bank gave $12,644,867 in mortgage and home improvement loans last year. However. it doesn%u2019t give information showing how this figure compares with the bank's total assets, or their mortgage portfolio.According to a block by block map, Williamsburgh services an area including parts of Greenpoint, Williamsburgh. Fort Greene. Clinton Hill, Park Slope, Brooklyn heights, Cobble Hill, and South Brooklyn. The rough boundaries of this area are Bushwick Avenue, Broadway, Eastern Parkway. Prospect Park West, Prospect Avenue, and the East River.Dime: Brooklyn's largest savings bank put out one of theshortest and un-informative CRA statements.Anti-Redlining Movement Looks Back On Four YearsOf Mixed Successes, Disappointments and ProgressBY JEAN STERNLIGHTBrooklyn groups such as Bank on Brooklyn and South Brooklyn Against Investment Discrimination were disappointed with the recent State Banking Department decision to approve the Dime Savings Bank merger with an upstate bank but still strongly support the legislation upon which the decision was based.Congress in 1977 passed the Community Reinvestment Act- (CRA) and subsequently the New York State legislature passed a banking law based on the federal law.The CRA requires that whenever regulatory agencies such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the State Banking Department decide whether to grant bank mergers or branch applications, they must consider not only the bank%u2019s fiscal soundness, but also the bank%u2019s record in meeting local credit needs.Anti-redlining groups say that banks use discriminatory policies based solely on where mortgage applicants live rather than on their credit worthiness and that some banks make little if any mortgage money available choosing instead to invest Brooklyn%u2019s money out ofS tc ltC .DISAPPOINTMENT AND SUCCESSNew York State Superintendent of Banks, Muriel Siebert, approved the Dime Saving%u2019s Bank%u2019s merger request despite vehement protests by Bank on Brooklyn (BOB) and South Brooklyn Against Investment Discrimination (AID). In a July 13 statement, making frequent references to Dime%u2019s Community Reinvestment Act Statement and service area map, Siebert concluded that %u201c it does not appear that Dime has delineated its entire community in a way which unreasonably excludes low and moderate income areas.%u201d Siebert therefore agreed to allow Brooklyn%u2019s Dime to merge with the Mechanics Exchange Bank in Albany.It%u2019s not been all disappointments for anti-fedlining groups. Earlier this year, using the new law, AID scored a major victory when the FDIC denied a branch application of the Greater New York Savings Bank. It was the first time a federal agency applied the CRA law to a bank branch application and in doing so considered objections filed by a local group.And so much of the current anti-redlining activity is focused on the CRA since it gives anti-redlining groups a legal basis upon which to challenge a bank%u2019s lending behavior.Herb Steiner says that his organization, AID, %u201c is zeroing in on making these challenges right now, since we have the most expertise in that area.%u201d AID joined by BOB currently has a challenge pending with the FDIC against the Manufacturer%u2019s Hanover Trust Bank. INSURANCE REDLININGAnti-redlining groups arc moving into other areas as well, such as opposing insurance redlining, which is said to occur when insurance companies refuse to give fire or theft insurance, based solely on the location of the applicant%u2019s house. AID, for example, lobbiedhard with the slate legislature for passage of an adequate Fair Access Insurance Requirement (FAIR) bill to oppose insurance redlining.AID would like to see that people who had been denied insurance in the private market could still get insurance at private market rates through the FAIR plan rather than being charged 300 to 500 percent more.The present law has brought FAIR plan insurance rates down significantly but they still are not comparable to the private market rates. Needless to say AID is not satisfied with the result since, they say many people cannot afford the high insurance rates and many have to go without.A new kind of redlining groups are focusing on now is credit card redlining. State Senator Bartosiewics charged, for example, that Amoco oil has followed a discriminatory policy by not issuing credit cards to applicants on the basis of where they live, and has cited rejection letters received by his constituents in Crown Heights and Williamsburg stating that their neighborhoods were the reason for the rejection.It is four years now since %u201c Take the Money and run%u201d was published by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) which stimulated the anti-redlining movement. It is clear that anti-redlining efforts have scored some victories togetner wiin me setbacks but banks say they cannot do more until the national economy improves.Studies and reports that havetried to evaluate anti-redlining efforts do not always agree with each other. A study released by Bank on Brooklyn affiliated with NYPIRG, reaches a quite optimistic conclusion.STUDIES AND REPORTSIn the words of BOB%u2019s press release, the study based on 1977 and 1978 bank lending figures %u201c shows that pressures from community anti-redlining groups have obtained major new investments by Brooklyn savings banks in their communities%u2019 housing.%u201dA report issued in July of this year by the State Assembly%u2019s Committee on Legislative Oversight and investigation, chaired by Assemblyman Charles Schumer who represents Sheepshead Bay, also portrays Brooklyn banks in a relatively favorable light.While harshly criticizing New York State banks in general for having %u201c slashed mortgage loans within New York State by 15 percent over the course of the past year,%u201d the report%u2019s date shows that most local banks have actually increased the amount of mortgage loans granted in the past year.Commenting on the Schumer report, Herb Steiner, said %u201c it would seem to indicate that where the public is aroused and angry about redlining, the banks are more willing to meet credit needs.%u201d Steiner also noted that this mark of success does not mean tnat anii-redlining groups can close up their offices and go home. Rather, says Steiner, %u201c if we want to sleep, banks would too.%u201d %u201cThey only lendbecause we look over their shoulder, I%u2019m sorry to say.%u201dBANKS COMMENTMeanwhile, the banks say that their greatest concern is with the nationwide tightness of money. Bank President Jerry Lasurdo of Green Point Savings Bank says %u201c we lend out what we%u2019ve got, but we don%u2019t have much.%u201d Jerome Maron, President of the Greater New York Savings Bank also complained about what he called %u201cthe rapid outflow of deposits from thrift institutions.%u201d %u201c If outflows continue like this,%u201d noted Maron, %u201c I foresee you will see a continuance in the tightness of mortgages.%u201dMaron points out that %u201c it takes awhile for institutions to reflect what legislators or regulators can do very quickly.%u201d In this Maron observed banks are more like boats than horses. %u201c Where a horserider can turn quickly, a boat must turn slowly,%u201d he said. He pointed out that many of a banks assets are invested in long term ventures, and that %u201ctime is needed to adjust the asset structure of banks.%u201d Maron denies, however, that pressure has caused the Greater to substantially change its lending practices. %u201c I raised these same issues two and a half years ago,%u201d he noted.Joseph Ujazdowski, President of the Dime, similarly feels that his bank%u2019s behavior is the same as it has always been. In reference toliie v^tvA nc :>aiu 1 uun t think %u00bbi.really changed anything-we were making loans already.%u201dAug. 16,1979, The PHOENIX, Page 7