Office of Thrift Supervision

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FOR RELEASE at 1:30 P.M. EDT For further information
Thursday, October 5, 2000 Contact: Ella P. Allen
OTS 00-85 202/906-6924

OTS Releases September National CRA Ratings

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 5, 2000 -- The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) today issued savings associations' Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluation ratings that became available in September 2000.

Of the 10 institutions in the September report, 2 were rated Outstanding, and 8 were rated Satisfactory.

The CRA requires financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of their local communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound lending practices. CRA performance is assessed as part of each financial institution's examination for compliance with non-discrimination and consumer laws and regulations. Each institution must make its rating available to the public upon request and is permitted to charge a nominal fee for a copy of its public CRA performance evaluation.

In some cases, an institution may be examined by an OTS region other than the one that includes the state in which the institution is located, because of the institution’s corporate structure.

September 2000 CRA ratings by region:

  NE SE CEN MW W Total
Outstanding 0 0  0  0 2    2
Satisfactory 4 1  1  1 1    8
Needs to Improve 0 0  0  0 0    0
Substantial Noncompliance 0 0  0  0 0    0
Total 4 1  1  1 3   10

OTS' five regions and the states in each are as follows:

Northeast (NE) Southeast (SE) Central (CEN) Midwest (MW) West (W)
Connecticut Alabama Illinois Arkansas Alaska
Delaware Florida Indiana Colorado Arizona
Maine Georgia Kentucky Iowa California
Massachusetts Maryland Michigan Kansas Hawaii
New Jersey North Carolina Ohio Louisiana Guam
New Hampshire South Carolina Tennessee Minnesota Idaho
New York Virginia Wisconsin Mississippi Montana
Pennsylvania District of Columbia   Missouri Nevada
Rhode Island     Nebraska Oregon
West Virginia Puerto Rico   North Dakota Utah
Vermont Virgin Islands   South Dakota Washington
      New Mexico Wyoming
      Oklahoma  
      Texas  

Lists of institutions' CRA ratings are available to the public through the Records Management and Information Policy Division, Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20552, or telephone (202) 906-5900. Copies of institutions' individual CRA performance evaluations are available directly from the institutions, through the OTS regional offices, or the OTS web site at www.ots.treas.gov.


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The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an office of the U.S. Treasury, regulates and supervises the nation's thrift industry. OTS's mission is to ensure the safety and soundness of thrift institutions and to support their role as home mortgage lenders and providers of other community credit and financial services. For copies of news releases or other documents visit the OTS web page at www.ots.treas.gov.


                         OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION                          
                                                                                
                    CRA PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS FOR SEP-2000          
                                REGION NORTHEAST                                
                                                                                
  CRA Performance Evaluations prepared by the OTS for the savings
associations listed below became publicly available during this reporting
period.

NAME OF ASSOCIATION/ STATE HOME OFFICE ADDRESS CRA RATING ----- ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ME NORTHEAST BANK, F.S.B. SATISFACTORY 232 CENTER STREET AUBURN, ME - 04242 NY LEHMAN BROTHERS BANK, FSB SATISFACTORY 3 WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER 7th FLOOR NEW YORK, NY - 10285 PA AMERICAN EAGLE SAVINGS BANK SATISFACTORY PO BOX 2188 BOOTHWYN, PA - 19061 PA COMMONWEALTH BANK SATISFACTORY PO BOX 2100 VALLEY FORGE, PA - 19482


CRA PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS FOR SEP-2000 REGION SOUTHEAST NAME OF ASSOCIATION/ STATE HOME OFFICE ADDRESS CRA RATING ----- ------------------------------------- ------------------------- VA CENIT BANK SATISFACTORY MAIN STREET TOWER 300 EAST MAIN ST NORFOLK, VA - 23510
CRA PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS FOR SEP-2000 REGION CENTRAL NAME OF ASSOCIATION/ STATE HOME OFFICE ADDRESS CRA RATING ----- ------------------------------------- ------------------------- IL CHESTERFIELD FS & LA OF CHICAGO SATISFACTORY 10801 S WESTERN AVE CHICAGO, IL 60643
CRA PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS FOR SEP-2000 REGION MIDWEST NAME OF ASSOCIATION/ STATE HOME OFFICE ADDRESS CRA RATING ----- ------------------------------------- ------------------------- MO GUARANTY, FSB SATISFACTORY 1341 W BATTLEFIELD ST SPRINGFIELD, MO - 65807
CRA PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS FOR SEP-2000 REGION WEST NAME OF ASSOCIATION/ STATE HOME OFFICE ADDRESS CRA RATING ----- ------------------------------------- ------------------------- CA FIRST FEDERAL BANK SATISFACTORY OF CALIFORNIA, FSB PO BOX 471 SANTA MONICA, CA - 90406 CA LIFE BANK OUTSTANDING 10540 MAGNOLIA AVE SUITE B RIVERSIDE, CA - 92505 HI AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK, FSB OUTSTANDING 915 FORT STREET MALL HONOLULU, HI - 96813


Created: Thursday, 10/05/2000