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Community Reinvestment Act

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) - Public File

What is the Community Reinvestment Act? 

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA, P.L. 95-128, 91 Stat.1147, title VII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977, 12 U.S.C., subsection 2901 et seq.) is a United States federal law passed by Congress in 1977.

The CRA encourages financial institutions to help meet their communities' needs—through safe and sound lending practices and by providing retail banking and community development services.

Federal regulators monitor whether banks and thrifts are fulfilling their CRA obligations. By law, these federal agencies—the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision—must:

  • regularly review the CRA performance of banks and savings and loans, and
  • take into account the CRA record of a bank or thrift when it applies to open a new branch or merge with or acquire another institution.

In addition, each of the federal agencies works to educate these institutions about successful CRA programs in other parts of the country and suggests other ideas that might help develop the community.

An amendment to the Community Reinvestment Act in 1990 requires that CRA ratings be made public. Each bank or thrift must maintain a public file that contains the public section of its most recent CRA performance review, a list of its services and branches, written comments from the public, and certain other information.

CRA Public File Available for Inspection

First National Bank's entire public CRA file is available at its main office, located at 405 5th Street, Ames, Iowa. You can ask to inspect this file, at no charge to you, any time the bank is open. 

If you do your banking at a branch office, you can ask to see its CRA file, which contains a copy of the public section of the bank's most recent CRA performance evaluation and a list of services provided by your branch. Upon request, your branch must provide for inspection, within five days, all the information in the public file relating to your branch's assessment area. 

You may also ask the bank to provide you with a copy of its public CRA file for you to read at your convenience. The bank is allowed to charge you a reasonable fee to cover the cost of copying and mailing. 

Each office or branch of a bank is also required to post a notice in its lobby that describes the purpose of the Community Reinvestment Act. This notice also explains that the public has a right to review a bank's CRA file and to make written comments about the bank's CRA performance. In addition, the notice names the federal regulator of the bank and states whether the bank is owned by a holding company. First National Bank is owned by Ames National Corporation, a holding company. 

In compliance with the requirements of the Community Reinvestment Act, the following information must be maintained in a public file, current as of April 1 of each year. 

CRA Public File Online

First National is pleased to provide its CRA Public File information online for viewing convenience. By providing our CRA public information online, First National Bank is better able to keep the information current, while providing convenient access. 

Comments or Questions

If you have comments or questions about First National Bank's CRA Public File, contact: First National Bank, Chief Compliance Officer, 405 5th Street, Ames, Iowa 50010

Written Comments

All written comments received from the public for the current year and each of the prior two calendar years that specifically relate to the bank's performance in helping to meet community credit needs, and any response to comments by the bank, will be available in the Public File, if neither the comments nor the response contain a statement that reflects adversely on the good name or reputation of any persons other than the bank of publication of which would violate specific provisions of the law. 

Category Documents
1) Written Comments (Received from the public.)
  • None
2) CRA Performance Evalution (A copy of the public section of the bank's most recent CRA Performance Evaluation.)
3) Branch Information (A list of the bank's branches, their street addresses and census tracts, including hours of operation.)
4) Opened and Closed Branches (Branches opened and closed by the bank during the current year and each of the prior two calendar years.)
5) List of Retail Banking Products and Services (A list of services (loan and deposit products, and transaction fees) generally offered at the bank's branches and descriptions of material differences in the availability or cost of services at particular branches, if any.
6) Assessment Areas (A map of each assessment area showing the boundaries of the area and identifying the geographies contained within the area.)
7) Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Disclosure Statements and HMDA Data Public Notice
8) HMDA Modified Loan Application Register (LAR)
9) Loan to Deposit Ratios
10) Any Other Information the Bank Chooses
  • None

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