''CRA banks were significantly less likely than other lenders to make a high-cost loan,'' the law firm's report found. When CRA banks did originate high-cost loans, the average APR was appreciably lower than the average APR on high-cost loans originated by other lenders.

Further, CRA banks were more than twice as likely as other lenders to retain originated loans in their portfolio, said Warren Traiger, a partner at Traiger & Hinckley.

''If more lenders were covered by CRA, the crisis would have been mitigated,'' Traiger said in an interview.

The investment banks who purchased, bundled and securitized subprime loans were not covered by CRA, points out Matthew Lee, executive director of Inner City Press, a nonprofit community advocacy group based in the New York borough of the Bronx.

HURTING POOR PEOPLE

''I see why this argument has gained traction,'' Lee said. ``You have a law telling banks to lend to poor people. So now people wonder whether CRA is good.''

It's important to dismiss this atrocious accusation against CRA. Going forward as financial institutions rein in their lending, we cannot go back to a time when low- and moderate-income families, including minorities, had great difficulty getting loans to buy a home. This group of borrowers can make good and profitable mortgage customers when the loans are made wisely and with sound and safe lending criteria.

''I'm offended that the poor are being blamed for this crisis when the exact opposite is true,'' Traiger said. ``The well-to-do looking to become more well-do-to are to blame -- not folks looking to get a mortgage.''

Research assistant Charity Brown contributed to this column.

Hear Michelle Singletary's personal finance reports online at www.npr.org. Readers can write to her c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071.

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