Federal regulators want to change how banks are graded on serving communities. We told them what San Francisco families stand to lose.

Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to bank. That is the idea behind the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the federal law that holds banks accountable for serving the low- and moderate-income communities where they operate.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have proposed changes to the CRA rules. Some of those changes would shift the focus toward credit services and weaken the incentives for basic deposit accounts. Those accounts are how families get paid, pay rent, save, and stay out of costly alternatives like check cashers and payday lenders.

Together with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), we submitted a comment letter urging regulators to change course. We called on them to:

When banks have less reason to serve low-income communities, working families pay the price. We’ll keep pushing for a CRA that expands access to safe banking.