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  "description": "Agency will now approve LOCs from 'well capitalized' banks, or NCUA insured credit unions",
  "path": "/ntia-drops-weiss-ratings-for-letters-of-credit/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-08-15T15:13:32.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_will no longer_",
    "_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_",
    "Join the Community!",
    "_been contentious_",
    "_block their access_",
    "_would allow_",
    "_no longer use_",
    "_had fallen below_",
    "_to scramble_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, August 14, 2025 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has eased requirements for participants in a major federal broadband program to obtain a letter of credit.\n\nThe NTIA _will no longer_ require internet service providers participating in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program to obtain a standby LOC from a financial institution with a Weiss rating of B minus or better.\n\nInstead, the agency will now accept LOCs from banks that are “well capitalized” or from credit unions insured by the National Credit Union Administration. ISPs may also obtain a standby LOC from banks rated BBB- or higher by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\n\n\n_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_\n\n Join the Community! \n\nAnnounced in July and set to take effect on August 24, the change is intended to make it easier for ISPs to secure LOCs. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) hailed the shift as a “win for small ISPs.”\n\n“This will benefit WISPA members that participate in BEAD because there are more banks that meet the ‘well-capitalized’ standard than the Weiss bank safety rating standard it replaces, and it will likely be less volatile over time,” the organization said.\n\nUnder BEAD rules, ISPs receiving program funds must obtain a standby LOC covering 25 percent of their award. Eligibility rules for issuing LOCs have _been contentious_, with small ISPs warning that strict standards could _block their access_ to funding. In November 2023, the NTIA said it _would allow_ other financial instruments, such as performance bonds, to be used in place of a LOC.\n\nIn December, the Federal Communications Commission ruled it would _no longer use_ Weiss ratings to determine bank eligibility. Instead, it adopted the “well-capitalized” standard as defined by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The change followed a sharp decline in qualifying banks—nearly half of the 3,600 banks with a B minus or better rating in 2022 _had fallen below_ that level by June 2024—forcing many ISPs _to scramble_ for new LOC providers.\n\nAlthough the BEAD program automatically adopted the FCC’s new standard, the NTIA’s July announcement formally codified it and added the new provisions easing restrictions for credit unions and NRSRO-rated banks with a BBB- or higher rating.",
  "title": "NTIA Drops Weiss Ratings for Letters of Credit",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:47:27.862Z"
}