Fair Lending

Subscribe to Fair Lending

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a charge of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act (Act) against Louis Liberty & Associates, a PLC dba The House Lawyer, Liberty & Associates, a PLC dba The House Lawyer (THL), and owners, employees and agents of THL (collectively, the “Respondents”), one of which…

The CFPB recently issued its annual fair lending report.  The report describes the CFPB’s fair lending activities in supervision and enforcement; guidance and rulemaking; interagency coordination; and outreach and education for 2020.

The report states that the Bureau announced two public fair lending enforcement actions in 2020.  One of those actions represented the CFPB’s…

While much attention has been paid to the “new CFPB’s” plans to make fair lending a top priority, the fair lending practices of financial institutions supervised by the federal banking agencies are also likely to face greater scrutiny under the Biden Administration.

In its Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights, the FDIC describes several matters involving…

Under the leadership of Acting CFPB Director Dave Uejio, the Bureau issued an interpretive rule on March 9, 2021 clarifying that the prohibition against sex discrimination under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) and Regulation B includes sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. This prohibition includes discrimination based on actual or perceived non-conformity with traditional…

On March 4 and 5, 2021, the Consumer Law Review of Loyola University Chicago School of Law will hold a symposium on issues involving racial justice in consumer law.  The symposium will consist of three panel discussions, with each panel discussion followed by a Q&A session.  Chris Willis, co-chair of Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services…

The CFPB has filed its fourth status report with the California federal district court as required by the Stipulated Settlement Agreement in the lawsuit filed against the Bureau in May 2019 alleging wrongful delay in adopting regulations to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to…

The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with Hunt Mortgage, a licensed mortgage banker, to address the DFS’s findings that there was a “demonstrable lack of lending to minorities and in majority-minority neighborhoods in Western and Central New York by Hunt Mortgage.”  DFS also…

Last week, HUD’s Acting Assistant Director for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued a memorandum directing HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to take a series of actions “to administer and fully enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The memorandum is intended to implement…

The CFPB took another significant step towards issuing regulations to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act by releasing the final report of the small business review panel (Panel) on the proposals the Bureau is considering for developing such regulations (Report).

Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and report certain…

On October 25, a Massachusetts federal district court entered a preliminary injunction staying and postponing the effective date of the final rule issued by HUD last month (“2020 Rule”) revising its 2013 Fair Housing Act disparate impact standards (“2013 Rule”).  The order also enjoins HUD from enforcing the 2020 Rule and keeps the 2013 Rule…