January 31, 2021 – Of the 54 Community Reinvestment Act ratings awarded to Massachusetts banks during 2020, twelve (22.2%) were “Outstanding", according to a report issued today by the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA). This was up from 14.3% in 2019 and even further up from the share of "Outstanding" ratings five years ago in 2015 which was 6.8%. No "Outstanding" ratings were awarded to credit unions (nineteen ratings awarded in 2020) or mortgage companies (sixteen awarded in 2020).
The report was prepared for MAHA by Jim Campen, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a long-time member of MAHA's Board of Directors.
MAHA's thirtieth annual report lists the CRA ratings assessed to all Massachusetts banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies and evaluates the performance of the three federal regulators and the Massachusetts Division of Banks in reviewing bank performance in meeting community needs.
Six of the state’s ten biggest banks were rated “Outstanding” in their most recent CRA exams: State Street (#1), Bank of America (#2), Citizens (#3), TD Bank (#5), Eastern (#6), and Rockland Trust (#7). Until six years ago, it was routine for all ten of the biggest banks to have ratings of “Outstanding.” Then the number of “Outstanding” ratings among the top ten banks fell to eight at the end of 2014, seven at the end of 2015, eight at the end of 2016, and five at the end of 2017-2019. Santander (#4), First Republic (#8), People's United (#9), and Berkshire Bank (#10) have most recent ratings of “Satisfactory.” Banks are ranked by total in-state deposits as reported by the FDIC for mid-2020.
Of the 74 currently-licensed licensed mortgage lenders that have ever received CRA for Mortgage Lennders ratings, four (5.4%) have current ratings of "High Satisfactory", 65 (87.8%) have current ratings of "Satisfactory" and five (6.8%) have current ratings of "Needs to Improve." Quicken Loans, which has been far above the fifty-loan threshold for eleven years, received a Consent Order, rather than a rating, as a result of an exam begun in 2016 and still is without a rating.
