by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, Dec 11 – 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. While preparing for PNC's sure to be coming next bank-grab as PNC expands in AI and crypto, FFW commented twice, as noted by the Fed:
"The Board received two timely adverse comments on the proposal, both from the same commenter.32 The commenter objected to the proposal, alleging that, based on data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (“HMDA”), 33 PNC Bank made fewer home loans to African American individuals as compared to white individuals nationwide, including in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Alabama, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, California, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Delaware, Massachusetts, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Wisconsin in 2024. The commenter also alleged that PNC Bank denied home loan applications of African American individuals at a higher rate than those of white individuals. 34 The commenter requested that the Board consider and hold hearings regarding a consumer complaint submitted by an unknown customer of PNC Bank to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) regarding an allegation that the consumer’s account was frozen by the bank without explanation, which was published on the CFPB’s consumer complaint database (“CFPB database”). The commenter also more generally requested that the Board review consumer complaints in the CFPB’s database regarding PNC Bank."
But there is no rebuttal. Game on - as PNC promotes crypto trading, orders staff back to the office only to fire then for AI - and to outsource decisions to AI. It will all be opposed.
On October 15 the OCC provided some responsive documents - but withheld in full 435 pages, while providing suborned letters from supportive commenters who have PNC on their Board of Directors (can you say, conflict of interest) or who name support. OCC responsive documents in Inner City Press' CloudDocument here.
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 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 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 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. There are more states.
Watch this site.
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