HUD: $55 Million Awarded for Housing and Community Development Projects in 77 Native American Communities
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $55.2 million to 77 Native American tribes throughout the country to improve housing conditions and to stimulate economic development in their communities. HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Program is a competitive program that supports a wide range of community development and affordable…
SBA: Regulatory Changes Finalized to SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program
The U.S. Small Business Administration has noted two important changes to its Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program that will increase contract opportunities for small contractors, supporting them to grow their business operations. The changes will become effective on September 20, 2017. The SBA will increase the guarantee percentage in the Preferred Surety Bond Program from…
SBA: FY 2017 State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Awards Announced
The U.S. Small Business Administration today announced that $18 million in funding has been awarded to 44 State international trade agencies through SBA’s competitive State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), to support export growth among U.S. small businesses. STEP is designed to increase both the number of small businesses that begin to export and the value…
CFPB: Announces First No-Action Letter in Efforts to Support Consumer-Friendly Innovation
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced a no-action letter issued to Upstart Network, Inc., a company that uses alternative data in making credit and pricing decisions. As a condition of the no-action letter, Upstart will regularly report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid the Bureau’s…
HUD: Disaster Assistance Available for Florida Storm Victims
U.S. Housing and Urban Development today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the State of Florida and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to Hurricane Irma. This week, President Trump issued a major disaster declaration for Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm…
Joint Release: Agencies Propose Amending CRA Regulations to Conform to HMDA Regulation Changes and Remove NSP References
The federal bank regulatory agencies today issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking to amend their respective Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations primarily to conform to changes made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). Since 1995, the Board of Governors of the Federal…
Census Bureau: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S. 2016
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income increased by 3.2 percent between 2015 and 2016, while the official poverty rate decreased 0.8 percentage points. At the same time, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage decreased. Median household income in the United States in 2016 was $59,039, an increase in…
ABA: 9 in 10 Americans Rate Their Bank’s Service as Good or Excellent
Nine in 10 Americans with a bank account (89 percent) rate their bank’s service and support as “good,” “very good” or “excellent,” according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the American Bankers Association. The same number say they are satisfied with their primary bank. The survey also asked consumers to…
Census Bureau: The Digital Divide – Broadband Usage Across the Nation
States on the Pacific Coast and most of those in the Northeast such as New Hampshire and Massachusetts had higher levels of broadband internet use compared to the national average (77 percent), according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report on Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2015. These tended to be the…