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Revised CDFI certification application open for comment
The Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund’s revised Certification Application is now open for public comment. Last month, the fund previewed changes to the application after a six-month blackout period began Oct. 1, during which it is not accepting new applications while it updates the form and process.
The proposed changes would impact the CDFI Certification Application, Annual Certification and Data Collection Report, and data collection mechanisms. A substantive change to the primary section of the Certification Application will now include a bright-line questioning related to an organization’s lending and financing practices to better gauge an applicant’s “adherence to responsible financial practices.”
Prior to the preview of changes, the agency also issued supplemental guidance on CDFI certification and published a CDFI Certification Cure Period FAQ guide to inform CDFIs how to resolve certification-related deficiencies during a cure period.
However, many institutions, including credit unions, experienced insufficient communications about pending applications as well as this blackout and other cure periods.
NAFCU asked the CDFI Fund and lawmakers to address this delay and lack of communication. CDFIs that had not submitted their recertification application as of October are forced to wait until April 2023 to submit applications, causing an inability to retain their CDFI status and subsequently lose grant awards under federal programs.
NAFCU called on credit unions to contact their lawmakers and urge them to join other Members of Congress, led by Reps. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, D-Del., and Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, to communicate these concerns with the CDFI Fund and to ignite action to address these issues urgently.
NAFCU recently published several issue briefs, including one on CDFIs, to help credit unions stay informed on this topic. The association will gather member feedback and submit comments to the CDFI Fund by the Dec. 5 comment deadline.