The three trade groups challenging an amendment to Nevada law that allows an applicant for credit with no credit history to request that the creditor deem the applicant’s credit history to be identical to that of the applicant’s spouse during the marriage have responded to the motion to dismiss their lawsuit filed by the Commissioner
ECOA
House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Holds Hearing on Lending and Housing Discrimination Against Members of the LGBTQ+ Community
By Elisabeth R. Connell on
On October 29, 2019, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing to explore the issue of lending and housing discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community. A recording of the hearing is available here.
Six witnesses offered testimony and responded to questions posed by subcommittee members:
- Harper Jean Tobin,
…
Facebook class action filed claiming discrimination by financial services advertisers
By Elanor A. Mulhern on
Posted in Fair Lending, Litigation and Court Decisions
A purported class action filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Facebook of discriminating against women and individuals over 40 who were denied advertisements and information about certain financial services opportunities, including those for bank accounts, insurance, and investing.
According to the complaint, Facebook encourages financial…
House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to hold Oct. 29 hearing on LGBTQ+ discrimination in lending and housing
By Alan S. Kaplinsky on
Posted in Fair Credit, Regulatory and Enforcement
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Financial Services has scheduled a hearing entitled “Financial Services and the LGBTQ+ Community: A Review of Discrimination in Lending and Housing.” The memo from the Committee’s Majority Staff to Committee Members states that the hearing “will focus on the extent and effects of discrimination…
CFPB to hold Nov. 6 symposium on Dodd-Frank Section 1071
By Barbara S. Mishkin on
Posted in Fair Lending, Regulatory and Enforcement
The CFPB announced today that it will hold a symposium on Dodd-Frank Act Section 1071 on November 6, 2019. Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection with credit applications made by women- or minority-owned businesses and small businesses. Such data includes the race, sex, and…
FTC sends 2018 annual ECOA report to CFPB
By John L. Culhane, Jr. on
The FTC has sent its annual letter to the CFPB reporting on the FTC’s activities related to compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B.
The FTC has authority to enforce the ECOA and Reg. B as to nonbank providers within its jurisdiction. However, like several of the FTC’s prior letters on its…
CFPB issues annual fair lending report
By John L. Culhane, Jr. on
Posted in Fair Lending, Regulatory and Enforcement
The CFPB has issued a new annual report covering its fair lending activities during 2017. Since Mick Mulvaney did not become Acting Director until the end of November 2017, the fair lending activities described in the report largely took place under former Director Cordray’s leadership.
The Bureau’s last annual fair lending report under former Director…
CFPB hints at possible disparate impact rulemaking
By Christopher J. Willis on
On October 17, the Bureau released its Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, but it included a surprise for those interested in fair lending. Under the section of the associated blog post entitled “Future Planning” appears the following statement:
“The Bureau is considering future [rulemaking] activity with regard to specific areas of consumer financial law of…
ECOA and Small Business Lending: Where Are We?
By Christopher J. Willis on
Posted in Regulatory and Enforcement, Small Business
During Richard Cordray’s tenure as CFPB director, it began to look like we were heading toward an era of much more aggressive application of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to small business lending. The biggest potential development was the anticipated small-business lending data collection rule, which would have imposed HMDA-like reporting requirements for small business…
State AGs urge Mulvaney to continue use of disparate impact theory of ECOA liability
By Elisabeth R. Connell on
Posted in Regulatory and Enforcement
On September 5, 2018 a group of 14 state Attorneys General and the AG for the District of Columbia sent a comment letter to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, urging him to refrain from “reexamining the requirements” of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). The AGs seek to preserve the interpretation that the ECOA provides…