March 10, 1994

Fleet's sensitivity program

Fleet Bank's "INCITY," a three-year, $ 8 billion mortgage and home-improvement lending program, presented in Washington last month, will extend credit for low- and moderate-income home buyers and small businesses; more importantly, perhaps, it will "sensitize" Fleet employees to the needs of inner-city customers.

By "sensitize," the bank means serving mainly first-time low-income home buyers and home owners who previously would not have qualified for mortgages. This is a welcome development for the public at large and not just for inner cities.

The new program, the result of a deal that Fleet chairman Terrence Murray cut with Boston neighborhood activist Bruce Marks, ought to be especially welcome because it came on the heels of Fleet Financial Group's highly publicized troubles over community-lending by small second-mortgage loan sharks.

Although Fleet's direct role in unfair second-mortgage lending was slight, after Fleet won a case in a Georgia class-action suit, it attacked Mr. Marks for disruptive tactics at stockholder meetings - such as distributing T-shirts with a picture of Mr. Murray on a "wanted" poster.

Fleet's 1992 annual report, rather than address legitimate complaints about Fleet's role in the second mortgages, not only criticized Mr. Marks, but also the CBS news show 60 Minutes for an unflattering story.

The agreement between Fleet and Mr. Marks ought to have a salutary effect on all concerned - not the least, of course, on the communities to be served.

New Fleet initiatives for inner-city borrowers include Jump Start II, Mr. Marks's United Neighborhood Assistance Corporation (UNAC) mortgage program, Microloan program, Community Development Corporation, Diversity Employee Training, and Affordable Housing programs and will total $ 800 million of the $ 8 billion in the lending plan.

The remaining $ 7.2 billion will be distributed to suburban and rural areas, as well as to inner cities.

For the self-styled "urban terrorist" and community activist Mr. Marks, his victory over mortgage redlining and loansharking has resulted in a strengthened federal Community Reinvestment Act. And for Mr. Marks, who has an MBA, with a concentration in banking, the bank's initiatives have been a practical and personal achievement. Two years ago, he had approached Fleet with a request for Fleet to finance his low-income neighborhood mortgage organization UNAC with $ 20 million, a proposal Fleet rejected as an ultimatum.

But now, with the name-calling and theatrics by the activists and Fleet hopefully a thing of the past, Fleet and other Providence banks' roles in rebuilding our cities, including this one, should set an example of innovative and civic-minded lending to the disadvantaged.

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