Each depositor insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank

Q1. Why can't I find a CRA rating of the bank for which I am searching? A1.   The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) CRA Ratings database contains banks that are currently supervised or that were previously supervised by the FDIC. The FDIC conducts CRA examinations of State-chartered institutions that are not a member of the Federal Reserve System. There are several other regulatory agencies that supervise institutions, including the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), among others. If the user is having difficulty in finding a bank within the FDIC database, they may want to search for the bank at the FFIEC web site. Other reasons that the user may not find the institution: The "City" entered is not the location of the bank's physical headquarters. Try entering a different city in which you know the bank is located, or try searching by "Bank Name" only. The institution has begun operating recently, and no CRA examination has been conducted yet. Q2. How is the "CRA Rating" determined? What are examples of "CRA Rating"? A2.  The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requires the FDIC, in connection with the examination of a State nonmember insured financial institution, to assess the institution’s CRA performance. A financial institution’s performance is evaluated in the context of information about the institution (financial condition and business strategies), its community (demographic and economic data), and its competitors. Upon completion of a CRA examination, the FDIC rates the overall CRA performance of the financial institution using a four-tiered rating system. These ratings are shown in the "Last FDIC CRA Rating" field and consist of: Outstanding Satisfactory Needs to Improve Substantial Noncompliance Beginning in December 1998 a new five-tiered rating system, Component Ratings, was added for institutions that are in the "Large Bank" examination criteria. Institutions not categorized as large continue to use the four-tiered system described above. Component Ratings are the “Lending Rating,” “Investment Rating,” and “Service Rating” fields, and the numeric “Rating Points” field and use the following scale: Rating Lending Investment Service Outstanding 12 points 6 points 6 points High Satisfactory 9 points 4 points 4 points Low Satisfactory 6 points 3 points 3 points Needs to Improve 3 points 1 point 1 point Substantial Noncompliance 0 points 0 points 0 points To view these additional fields you must select them from the list in the Display fields box. Q3. What is the definition of "PE"? A3.   "PE" refers to "Performance Evaluation." The CRA requires each federal financial supervisory agency to use its authority when examining a financial institution subject to its supervision, to assess the institution's record of meeting the credit needs of its assessment area. Upon conclusion of such an examination, the agency must prepare a written evaluation of the institution's CRA performance record. This written evaluation is public information and can be obtained through the institution or its supervisory agency. While the content of the public evaluation might vary depending on the nature of the institution examined and the assessment method used, the public portion of the evaluation generally has the following information: The institution’s CRA rating. A description of the financial institution. A description of the financial institution’s assessment area. Conclusions regarding the financial institution’s CRA performance, including the facts, data, and analyses that were used to form such conclusions. Q4. What is meant by "Status"? A4.  The search screen allows the user to search for three different groups of institutions. These groupings are: Currently FDIC Supervised - Active: Limits the search to banks that are currently open for business in which the FDIC is the primary regulator. This is the default option which should generally result in the largest number of banks during a search and is probably the search option that a majority of users should select. Formerly FDIC Supervised - Active: Limits the search to open banks that were at one time supervised by the FDIC, but due to charter conversion, merger, or other reasons, are now supervised by another regulator. Formerly FDIC Supervised - Inactive: Limits the search to banks no longer operating for business, and at one time during their operation, were supervised by the FDIC. Q5. What is meant by "Release Date"? A5.  This refers to the year in which the FDIC made public (via monthly Press Release) the results of a CRA examination. For example, if the PE for a CRA examination was made public in the press release of June 1996, you would enter “1996” in this field. The actual exam date can be found in the public evaluation. Q6. What is meant by "Bank Name"? A6.   In the event that a bank has merged with another institution subsequent to the previous FDIC CRA examination, the search will identify the institution's name when the CRA examination was conducted. Therefore, if the user inputs the name of the institution that resulted after the merger, the previous CRA ratings of the differently named bank will not display. Also remember that partial names of the bank will very often result in a successful search; however, the full name of the institution should be entered if possible. Q7. What does "Asset Range" mean? A7.  "Asset Range" refers to an institution’s total assets reported on the most recent Report of Condition and Income (also known as the "Call Report") at the time of the CRA examination. For example, if the current CRA examination date is January 10, 1998, and the institution’s September 30, 1996 Report of Condition and Income (the most recent Call Report at the time of the examination) shows total assets of $300,000,000, then you should select "100,000 – 1,000,000" as the asset range. The asset range is shown in thousands. If you are not sure of the institution’s total assets, you should select "All" to capture all asset ranges. Q8. What is the definition of "Cert #"? A8.   "Cert #" refers to Certificate Number. Every FDIC-insured institution is assigned a unique five-digit Certificate Number. Q9. What are examples of "Exam Criteria"? A9.   The FDIC uses one of the following seven criteria to assess the CRA performance of an institution in an examination: Large institution performance criteria (using the lending, investment, and service tests) Small institution performance criteria Intermediate small institution performance criteria (using the small bank lending test and a community development test) Strategic plan institution performance criteria Limited purpose institution performance criteria Wholesale purpose institution performance criteria "Mixed" examination performance criteria* Not applicable** The assessment method used to evaluate the institution’s CRA performance and the format of the performance evaluation will vary, depending on the types of performance criteria used. For more information please review Regulation 345 -- Community Reinvestment, Sub-Part B in particular. * An institution that is evaluated under the examination criteria under i, ii, iii, v, or vi, above, but that also has one or more of its assessment areas evaluated separately under a strategic plan.   ** An institution whose CRA performance was evaluated under previous CRA requirements in effect prior to January 1, 1996. Q10. What is meant by "Sort By"? A10.   "Sort By" enables the user to select the primary field for which the query results are displayed. The drop-down options are meant to be tools to enable the user to easily find an institution, but not as a means to gather summary data. For example, if you select "Sort by" Bank Name, A - Z, the result would be a list of all banks in your query in alphabetical order. Conversely, if you select "Sort by" Bank Name, Z - A, the result would be a list of all banks in your query listed in reverse alphabetical order. All of the drop-down options are intended as tools that enable the user to easily locate selected data for an institution, not as a means by which to obtain summary data regarding the CRA examinations of institutions currently or formerly supervised by the FDIC. Q11. Definitions of terms found in the text of the PE.

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