FDIC CRA Compliance List: What the Ratings Disclose
The FDIC published a list of state nonmember banks evaluated for CRA compliance in July 2026. Here is what the list covers, and what it does not tell bank customers.
The FDIC issued its list of state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The list covers evaluation ratings the agency assigned to institutions in July 2026 (c01, c02). For a reader comparing banks, the practical point is that these ratings describe a bank's record of meeting community credit needs — not its fees, account terms, or safety-and-soundness grade.
The CRA is a 1977 law requiring the FDIC to assess a bank's record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations (c03). Congress mandated public disclosure of an evaluation and rating for each bank or thrift examined under the CRA on or after July 1, 1990, as part of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (c04).
What the announcement actually is
This is a routine publication notice. It announces that a list exists and where the underlying evaluations can be obtained — it is not a rule change, a new requirement, or an enforcement action against any named institution. The source does not name any bank or assign ratings in the announcement text.
Under the disclosure mandate, an individual bank's CRA evaluation is available directly from the bank, which is required by law to make the material available upon request, or from the FDIC's Public Information Center (c06). A consolidated list of all state nonmember banks whose evaluations have been publicly available since July 1, 1990, including each bank's rating, is also available, including as a hard copy from the FDIC's Public Information Center at 3501 Fairfax Drive, Room E-1002, Arlington, VA 22226 (c05).
How to think about the rating when choosing a bank
CRA ratings are one input, and a narrow one. They speak to lending, investment, and service in a bank's assessment areas. They say nothing about the price of a checking account, overdraft terms, minimum balances, wire fees, or deposit insurance coverage.
For a reader choosing where to hold cash or open an account, the sequence below keeps each question separate. None of these steps requires the FDIC list, but the list answers the community-credit question that fee schedules cannot.
- Fees and account terms: read the current fee schedule and deposit agreement from the bank itself.
- Deposit insurance: confirm how the institution is chartered and whether deposits are insured; this is separate from a CRA rating.
- Community credit record: request the bank's most recent CRA evaluation from the bank or the FDIC's Public Information Center (c06).
- Consistency over time: compare ratings across more than one examination cycle rather than a single period.
Worked example: reading a single evaluation request
Hypothetical: suppose a reader is comparing two state nonmember banks for a savings account. Bank A publishes a monthly maintenance fee and a minimum balance; Bank B publishes neither in its summary. Both appear on a CRA list for evaluations assigned in a given month.
The list tells the reader that an evaluation exists and when the rating was assigned — it does not resolve the fee comparison, because fees are outside the CRA framework. The reader would still need each bank's fee schedule to compare costs, then use the CRA evaluation only to judge community lending performance. Treating a CRA rating as a proxy for low fees would be a category error.
Announcement, availability and implementation
| Element | Status per the source |
|---|---|
| List of banks evaluated for CRA compliance | Issued (c01) |
| Evaluation ratings assigned | July 2026 (c02) |
| Public disclosure requirement | Mandated by FIRREA for examinations on or after July 1, 1990 (c04) |
| Individual evaluations | Available from the bank or the FDIC's Public Information Center (c06) |
| Consolidated list since July 1, 1990 | Available, including hard copy (c05) |
Two dates matter here and they are different. The July 2026 date refers to when ratings were assigned; the July 1, 1990 date marks the start of the disclosure regime. Mixing them up would misstate how current any single evaluation is. A reader should confirm the examination period on the evaluation document itself before drawing conclusions.
What the source does not say
The announcement does not identify any individual bank, state any rating, or state how many institutions are on the list. It does not describe the rating scale or the possible rating levels. It does not say whether any bank received a particular outcome or whether any enforcement followed.
It also does not address fees, deposit insurance, account eligibility, interest rates, or consumer complaint handling — none of which fall within the CRA disclosure described here. Nor does it indicate whether the list will be updated on a fixed schedule. Readers should not infer fee levels, safety, or service quality from the existence of a CRA evaluation.
A short checklist before you rely on a rating
- Confirm the bank's charter type, since the list covers state nonmember banks (c01).
- Check the examination period on the evaluation, not just the publication date.
- Separate community-credit findings from pricing terms in your comparison.
- Request the evaluation from the bank or the FDIC's Public Information Center if it is not otherwise available (c06).
The list is a pointer to disclosure, not a consumer scorecard. Used that way, it adds one honest data point to a bank comparison built mainly on fee schedules and account terms.
Sources
Informational only. Not financial, legal or investment advice. Check the primary sources listed above before you act on anything here.