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Treasury Department releases snapshot of CDFI loan activity from the 2021 financial year.
CDFI credit unions made more than 91.1% of their loans to individuals in FY21, the CDFI Fund reported Wednesday.
Banks, on the other hand, made 48.4% of their loans to individuals, with an additional 21.6% going to businesses.
The CDFI released its lending snapshot for FY21, just days before a subcommittee of the Community Development Advisory Board is scheduled to discuss recommendations on the CDFI Certification and application process.
Backstory and Context
The CDFI Fund has been in a blackout period as Treasury Department officials consider changes to the process. Some members of Congress and credit union trade groups have expressed frustration with fund officials over the length of that blackout.
The fund’s Community Development Advisory Board had been scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss possible changes to the application and certification processes, but the meeting was abruptly postponed Thursday afternoon. No reason was given for the postponement and a new meeting has not been scheduled.
The report also comes as House Republican appropriators propose cutting CDFI funding by $45.4 million. Conservative House Republicans who are members of the Republican Study Committee have even proposed eliminating the program altogether.
Inside the Report
In its report, fund officials said that CDFI credit unions charged lower interest rates on loans than CDFI banks did. For instance, on home improvement and purchase loans, credit unions charged an average of 3.52%, while banks charged 4.35% on average.
The CDFI Fund additionally reported that:
–About 67% of the CDFI lending portfolio went to distressed areas and underserved areas, a number that exceeded the CDFI Certification threshold of 60%.
–More than 20% of the lending was made in non-metropolitan areas, exceeding the percentage of the overall population living in those areas.
–Lending in high-poverty areas accounted for 31.4% of all lending—fund officials said that 29% of the overall population lives in such areas.
–82.3% of the credit unions receiving awards were located in a metropolitan area, compared with 64.9% of banks.
CDFI Fund
