by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, Sept 13 – As PNC Bank has grown it has become more disparate in its lending. After its CEO Bill Demchak announced a $4.1 billion proposal to buy FirstBank and bragged, "We just effectively bought Colorado," Fair Finance Watch prepared an early filing to the regulators demanding scrutiny and hearings.
This takes place as the regulators, led by the FDIC, are seeking to eliminate public notice and limit public comment. See, e.g., American Banker, Sept 10, 2025, "The FDIC is taking the 'community' out of CRA enforcement," by Matthew R. Lee, here
Now, Fair Finance Watch has filed challenges with the Federal Reserve and OCC, and Inner City Press is filing Freedom of Information Act requests. From the filings:
This is an early first comment on, the proposal and applications by PNC to acquire FirstBank. PNC's CEO Bill Demchak on September 9 said publicly, "We just effectively bought Colorado." Not so fast.
Fair Finance Watch has long been concerned about PNC. Fair Finance Watch has reviewed the just-released 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of PNC, not reviewed in any Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluation.
In state after state, PNC for African Americans has (many) more denials than originations, while the opposite is true for white borrows. The pattern is striking:
In Pennsylvania, PNC's headquarters state, PNC in 2024 denied 463 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 343 loans - while it made fully 7666 loans to whites and denied only 2720 applications. This is disparate.
In Michigan, where PNC lists 123 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 171 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 112 loans - while it made fully 2240 loans to whites and denied only 837 applications. This is disparate.
In Texas, PNC's biggest state by number of branches, PNC in 2024 denied 390 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 192 loans - while it made fully 2076 loans to whites and denied 2328 applications. This is disparate.
In Florida, where PNC lists 184 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 370 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 233 loans - while it made fully 2922 loans to whites and denied only 2172 applications. This is disparate.
In Indiana, where PNC lists 80 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 140 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 135 loans - while it made fully 2374 loans to whites and denied only 909 applications. This is disparate.
In Maryland, where PNC lists 112 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 465 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 333 loans - while it made fully 1661 loans to whites and denied only 861 applications. This is disparate.
In New York, where PNC recently and unceremoniously closed a deposit facility, PNC in 2024 denied 52 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 28 loans - while it made fully 289 loans to whites and denied only 252 applications. This follows the same PNC pattern and is disparate.
In Alabama, where PNC lists 90 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 357 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 235 loans - while it made fully 1084 loans to whites and denied only 661 applications. This is disparate.
In Colorado, which PNC CEO's says the bank has now "effectively bought," PNC in 2024 denied 12 applications from African Americans while making only 17 loans - while it made fully 422 loans to whites and denied only 244 applications. This is disparate.
In the District of Columbia, where PNC lists 19 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 73 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 47 loans - while it made fully 116 loans to whites and denied only 37 applications. This is disparate.
In Illinois, where PNC lists 141 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 232 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 170 loans - while it made fully 2408 loans to whites and denied only 1167 applications. This is disparate.
In Georgia, where PNC lists 54 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 321 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 261 loans - while it made fully 665 loans to whites and denied only 321 applications. This is disparate.
In Arizona, where PNC lists 60 branches and now proposes to further expand, PNC in 2024 denied 15 applications from African Americans while making only 22 loans - while it made fully 796 loans to whites and denied only 466 applications. This is disparate.
In Virginia, where PNC lists 51 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 134 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 120 loans - while it made fully 836 loans to whites and denied only 449 applications. This is disparate.
In California, where PNC lists 56 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 69 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 54 loans - while it made fully 1604 loans to whites and denied only 868 applications. This is disparate.
In Missouri, where PNC lists 27 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 49 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 32 loans - while it made fully 405 loans to whites and denied only 173 applications. This is disparate.
In New Jersey, where PNC lists 177 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 361 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 239 loans - while it made fully 3872 loans to whites and denied only 1945 applications. This is disparate.
In North Carolina, where PNC lists 102 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 216 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 184 loans - while it made fully 1842 loans to whites and denied only 768 applications. This is disparate.
In Ohio, where PNC lists 210 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 442 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 368 loans - while it made fully 5057 loans to whites and denied only 2000 applications. This is disparate.
In Tennessee, where PNC lists six branches, PNC in 2024 denied 27 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 20 loans - while it made fully 280 loans to whites and denied only 123 applications. This is disparate.
In Delaware, where PNC lists 26 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 91 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 87 loans - while it made fully 675 loans to whites and denied only 258 applications. This is disparate.
In Massachusetts, where PNC lists nine branches, PNC in 2024 denied 29 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 23 loans - while it made fully 215 loans to whites and denied only 165 applications. This is disparate.
In Kentucky, where PNC lists 66 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 98 applications from African Americans while making only 129 loans - while it made fully 1733 loans to whites and denied only 596 applications. This is disparate.
In South Carolina, where PNC lists eight branches, PNC in 2024 denied 27 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 25 loans - while it made fully 511 loans to whites and denied only 212 applications. This is disparate.
And in Wisconsin, where PNC lists 24 branches, PNC in 2024 denied 23 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 16 loans - while it made fully 338 loans to whites and denied only 105 applications. This is a nationwide pattern of disparities. And there is more.
From the many complaints against PNC, here is one from the CFPB public database:
14651893 Company name PNC Bank N.A. ... Date received: 7/14/2025 Consumer’s state: MI Complaint Narrative Hi my name is XXXX XXXX, I am the owner of my pnc acct, with routing numberXXXX ; an account number:XXXX. My account was frozen/ closed for XXXX reason an no explanation given. I tried calling, emailing, ect.... Still no REASON as to why my funds are frozen. I been a member over a year with [...]
There are many more - including regarding the debanking the OCC said will now be considered in connection with merger and other applications - to be addressed at the requested hearings.
Watch this site.
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