The government forced these banks to offer bad loans

[swampy]

Thank you for setting me straight, Joe. My local bank in a small depressed rural area _was_ encouraged to make loans "more available" to minorities and low income (mostly Mexican) families and I believe the three bankers I talked to. They even showed me the file folder of CRA guidlines and recommendations (various pamphlets and brochures published by the CRA).

Perhaps because of our local rural "depressed" state, my bank was targeted? I don't know, but, as a stockholder, I'm glad the officers of my bank did not "comply".

[JoeH]

"Encouraged to make loans more available" does not equal making them "no-doc". As for CRA guidelines, which ones they would have to follow is dependent on size. How big is your bank? Smaller than $250 million in assets, and there was only one test they had to meet to be within CRA guidelines.