Leaders gather outside of a JP Morgan Chase office building

in Washington, D.C. to demand that the company sign a

CRA agreement with NPA.

The message was loud and clear at this year’s NPA Annual Conference- leaders will not tolerate big bank mergers that ignore the needs of the neighborhoods.

NPA celebrated the victory of extending the public comment period for the proposed merger between JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) and Bank One at this year’s NPA Annual Conference. The merger would create the second largest bank in the country behind Citigroup, and JPMC has refused to sign a CRA agreement with NPA.

At this year’s conference, leaders descended on the office of Stephen Ruhlen, the head of JPMC’s governmental affairs, demanding that he call CEO William Harrison. Leaders left an inflatable pencil at the office with the demand that JPMC sign a CRA Agreement.
“You won’t take our mortgage payments without a signature,” said NPA Co-Chairwoman Brenda LaBlanc.  “Why should we work with you without an agreement with a signature?”

At the CRA workshop, community groups discussed the problems that they have been having with JPMC and Bank One. Leaders discussed the recent meeting that NPA had with Bank One and JPMC in Chicago where representatives from the banks refused to sign a CRA agreement. Leaders said they believe that JPMC believes it is above the CRA law and does not have to sign CRA agreements. 

Stopping the Credit Score Crooks

During NPA, a team of CRA leaders met with a team of economists from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who are in charge of writing a study on the effectiveness of credit scores.  The FTC agreed to be in touch with NPA about the concerns with credit scores. Stay tuned…