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Differentiate yourself from the competition. The CRA certification demonstrates your expertise in the regulatory compliance field with a CRA Certified Professional (CRACP) designation.

Benefits of the CRA Certified Professional Designation 

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is the most misunderstood consumer compliance regulation and its often added into compliance officers job responsibilities without any formal CRA training. CRA Today not only offers comprehensive CRA training, it also offers a rigorous certification program so all CRA practitioners can shore up their skills and are prepared to effectively run a CRA program in banks both small and large. 

The CRA Certified Professional (CRACP) designation signifies that the CRA practitioner has a solid understanding on how to run an effective CRA program steeped in industry best practices, as well as many other attributes: 

  • Gain a competitive advantage in the banking industry
  • Demonstrate your expertise as a CRA professional
  • Build credibility and visibility among peers 
  • Shows your passion and commitment to community development
  • Asserts technical skills and knowledge
  • Shows industry experts you are poised to run CRA programs 

Here is what you'll want to know before you take the CRA Certified Professional (CRACP) Exam

Exam Facts, Scoring and Reporting

SECTION ONE

The exam will be divided into two sections. Section one of the exam will consist of 40 multiple choice, true/false, and fill in the blanks questions. Questions can be marked and returned to at a later point in the exam, if time permits. In other words, within the time limit, you can go back and revisit your answers to ensure you are confident with your final answers before submitting the exam for scoring. You will be given a maximum of 2 hours to complete this portion of the exam. You will know immediately after taking this portion of the exam if you have successfully passed section one with at least 80% accuracy.    

SECTION TWO 

Upon successfully passing section one of the exam, you will receive a second email within two business days with the details for you to complete section two which is narrative based. Since elements of the CRA can be subjective, being able to demonstrate your ability to blend quantitative and qualitative elements into documenting your community development activities is an essential skill in running an effective CRA program. Section two of the exam aims to evaluate this aptitude and your readiness to defend community development activities during critical moments like a CRA regulatory compliance examination. Narrative answers that fail to adequately demonstrate this skill will be peer reviewed by a member of CRA Today's Advisory Committee to ensure proper grading for certification purposes. Exam results for section two will be available within 14 calendar days.  

*Important Note! Schedule your exam wisely as you will be required to complete both phase one and two within a 30 day period. 

ADDITIONAL FACTORS 

Exam Cancellation or Rescheduling:  If you decide not to take the exam, a full refund will be issued if you have not officially started the exam with your exam approval code. Once you receive your exam approval code (this will be emailed once you are approved to proceed after your pre-qualification factors have been validated), you must start the exam within a 30 day window and you must also complete phase one and phase two within a 30 day window.

Exam Retakes: It is highly recommended that you take the certification exam after you have had ample time to prepare as there is a $100 fee to retake the exam. 

Maintain the CRACP Certification

After successfully completing the CRACP Examination you will be required to complete thirty (30) hours of continuing education credit, specific to CRA every three years to maintain your certification. Professional development classes, conferences, workshops from industry leaders like the ABA, ICBA, etc will be accepted if they are CRA specific.  CRA Today also offers many options via workshops and the CRA Hub to make it easy to meet this continuing education threshold. 

You will be prompted to submit your continuing education credits 30 days prior to your certification lapse as a reminder. To start the recertification process, an annual recertification fee of $295 will be collected prior to validating your eligibility. The standard turnaround time to validate the requirements for recertification will be 14 days. 

Renewal Requirements

To maintain your Community Reinvestment Act Certified Professional (CRACP) designation in good standing, the following are required:

  • Submit an annual fee of $295 due on the one year anniversary of securing your CRACP designation.  You will be prompted and billed accordingly.  A $50 late fee will be charged after 15 calendar days of billing.  If your CRACP certification lapses due to non-payment on an annual basis or the lack of completing the required continuing education requirements, the CRACP minimum requirements and examination will be required to secure the CRACP designation again.
  • Submit evidence of completing 30 hours of CRA specific continuing education over a three year period.

Are you eligible to take the CRA Certified Professional (CRACP) Exam?

You must meet the following eligibility requirements by the time that you take the exam. CRA Today will accept your application with education/training that is scheduled and your exam will be available upon successful completion of the training modules.  

The CRACP certification is based on U.S. laws and regulations and are therefore not offered outside the U.S.

Eligibility Requirements for the CRA Certification.

To earn the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) certified professional certification (CRACP) designation, candidates must:

  • Meet the eligibility requirements;
  • Submit completed application and fees for the exam;
  • Pass the CRACP examination.

Three (3) years minimum of U.S. experience as a compliance professional involved in running a CRA program, participated in at least one CRA examination on behalf of the bank, AND completion of the following CRA-related training option, all within the last five (5) years:

Frequently Asked Questions