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The NCUA reports it has granted a federal charter and Share Insurance Fund coverage to Heritage Hub Federal Credit Union, located in Houston.

Heritage Hub will primarily serve people who live, work, worship, or attend school in an 84-census-tract community within Harris County, Texas. Heritage Hub plans to open its doors in mid-2025 and offer members basic savings and lending services to start.

The CFPB has filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal with prejudice, and withdrawn its 2024 suit against Acima Holdings, LLC; Acima Digital, LLC (formerly Acima Credit, LLC, d/b/a Acima Leasing); and Aaron Allred. The Bureau had alleged that the defendants' lease-to-own agreements were actually credit extensions, and accused the defendants of violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

Yesterday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced the agency’s new Made in America Manufacturing Initiative to empower small manufacturers.

As part of the Made in America Manufacturing Initiative, the SBA said it will:

• Cut $100 billion in regulation through the Office of Advocacy, which is empowered by law to work across federal agencies to identify and eliminate rules, policies, and procedures that disproportionately burden small businesses and manufacturers
• Launch a Red Tape Hotline for small business owners and manufacturers to share feedback and submit onerous regulations for review
• Deploy the newly announced Office of Manufacturing and Trade to offer small manufacturers dedicated resources and training in partnership with SBA field offices across the country
• Reduce barriers to access for the 504 loan program, a zero-subsidy program which provides capital for real estate, construction, and equipment purchases. Zero-subsidy means the program operates without ongoing taxpayer funding and is sustained by borrower and lender fees.
• Expand the use of the 7(a) Working Capital Pilot program, which provides financing to fund inventory purchases and export-related expenses for international markets
• Promote a skilled manufacturing workforce by partnering with agencies, trade schools and private sector stakeholders to create a pipeline of skilled workers to support manufacturing

The Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC have announced in a joint press release that their 2024 Shared National Credit (SNC) Program Report indicates that credit risk associated with large, syndicated bank loans remains moderate. However, the agencies noted weakened credit quality trends continue due to the pressure of higher interest rates on leveraged borrowers and compressed operating margins in some industry sectors.

The agencies also noted that the magnitude and direction of risk in 2025 is likely to be impacted by borrowers’ ability to manage interest expenses, real estate conditions, and other macroeconomic factors.

The 2024 review reflects the examination of SNC loans originated on or before June 30, 2024. The review focused on leveraged loans and stressed borrowers from various industry sectors and assessed aggregate loan commitments of $100 million or more that are shared by multiple regulated financial institutions.

Our monthly review of the Federal Reserve Board's archive of Community Reinvestment Act evaluation reports determined that the Reserve Banks made public nine evaluations of state chartered member banks in February. Eight of those evaluations received ratings of Satisfactory.

We congratulate ANB Bank, Denver, Colorado, whose evaluation received a rating of Outstanding.

HUD has announced a 90-day extension of its foreclosure moratorium on Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single family mortgages in the areas of Los Angeles County, California, devastated by the January 2025 wildfires.

The moratorium prohibits mortgage servicers from initiating or completing foreclosure actions on FHA-insured single family forward or Home Equity Conversion mortgages in the Los Angeles County Presidentially Declared Major Disaster Area (PDMDA) through July 7, 2025. The moratorium was originally set to expire on April 8, 2025.

Yesterday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced plans to put American citizens first by ending taxpayer benefits for illegal aliens and moving SBA offices out of sanctuary cities.

The SBA will issue a new policy requiring SBA loan applications to include a citizenship verification provision to ensure only legal, eligible applicants can access SBA programs. Lenders will be required to confirm that applicant businesses are not owned in whole or in part by an illegal alien.

Loeffler's statement also said the SBA will relocate six of its regional offices currently in municipalities that [allegedly] do not comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Over the coming months, the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City, and Seattle regional offices will be moved to less costly, more accessible locations that better serve the small business community and comply with federal immigration law.

The CFPB has published a Notice [90 FR 11495] in today's Federal Register extending the comment period on the Bureau's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Identity Theft and Coerced Debt. The comment period was scheduled to end today. Today's notice extends the comment period to end April 7, 2025.

The Federal Trade Commission has reported it has secured an initial win in its case against Seek Capital and the company’s founder and CEO, Roy Ferman, after the U.S. Court for the Central District of California granted the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

Under the preliminary injunction, Seek Capital is prohibited from making false claims related to small business loans or lines of credit and is forbidden from contacting any consumers whose information the company obtained before February 20, 2025.

According to the FTC’s complaint filed in November 2024, Seek Capital targets new and aspiring small business owners looking for loans or lines of credit to open or grow their businesses. The company falsely advertises that it can secure business loans or lines of credit and instead charges clients thousands of dollars simply to open credit cards in the owners’ names. These actions have cost small business owners more than $37 million.

The FDIC has released a March 2025 list of 56 financial institutions it recently examined for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). We congratulate four institutions whose evaluations were rated Outstanding:

• Bank of Bluffs, Bluffs, Illinois
• First Commerce Bank, Lakewood, New Jersey
• Pinnacle Bank, Fort Worth, Texas
• United Cumberland Bank, Whitley City, Kentucky

The remaining 52 institutions on the list received ratings of Satisfactory.