[raybbr]

Much of this mess would never have happened had the Democrat congressmen in the ‘80s not passed laws mandating that lenders give high-risk credit to low-income people.

I have heard this claim several times. Do you have a source for this?

[PA-RIVER]

The Fed has a way of pushing an Industry without setting law. I dont know of a law against red lining, but I do remember lots of saber rattling demanding that re-lining come to an end.

I used to work for a bank, doing reports for Feds. Salary and job ranking was reported by categories - Gender, race ,age. There was no law demanding that 10 percent of employees be black, or that women made the same money. But you can bet when the CEO’s reviewed these reports, they changed policy. You know the Feds were going to read them.

No law required.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“I have heard this claim several times. Do you have a source for this?”

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

Banks are evaluated by the Feds of how and where they lend.
“Are you a bank and want to expand? Fine, how are you doing with your CRA goals?”

This has been around quite a while and isn’t debatable in our industry, it’s a fact of life.
Some lenders were just more responsible on how they met their CRA goals than others.
Fortunately mine has been the most responsible in the nation so we are doing really now right now.