CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
The FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will require mortgage servicers to maintain certain fair lending data elements, including the borrower’s age, race, ethnicity, gender, and preferred language. The fair lending data must be stored in a searchable format, and must transfer with servicing throughout the loan term.
On the topic, Freddie Mac…
The CFPB has issued a new advisory opinion “to affirm that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B protect those actively seeking credit and those who sought and received credit.”
The ECOA defines an “applicant” to mean “any person who applies to a creditor directly for an extension, renewal, or continuation of credit…
On February 4, 2022, the FTC sent its annual letter to the CFPB reporting on the FTC’s activities related to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B. The Bureau includes the FTC’s annual letter in its own annual report to Congress on the ECOA.
The FTC has authority to enforce the ECOA and…
The CFPB, FTC, DOJ, and Federal Reserve Board have filed a joint amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit urging the court to reverse a district court ruling that an individual who had already received credit from the defendant and who was not currently applying to the defendant for credit…
The CFPB has filed a lawsuit against Oakland, CA-based online lender LendUpLoans alleging that LendUp is in violation of a 2016 Consent Order that required the lender to pay over $3.5 million in consumer redress as well as civil penalties and to cease misleading consumers with alleged false claims about the cost of loans and…
On August 23, 2021, the CFPB filed its sixth status report in the lawsuit alleging wrongful delay by the CFPB in adopting regulations to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act amended the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection…
During May 2021, the federal Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report (GAO-21-393) containing findings from its review of issues related to the CFPB’s oversight and enforcement of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (“HMDA”). Specifically, the report examines how the CFPB has (i) managed the reorganization of its…
Two leaders of the CFPB’s Fair Lending Office – Patrice Ficklin, Fair Lending Director, and Charles Nier, Senior Fair Lending Counsel – recently published an article advocating for broader use of special purpose credit programs (“SPCPs”) by creditors. The article, entitled “The Use of Special Purpose Credit Programs to Promote Racial and Economic Equity” and…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act does not preempt New Jersey’s common-law doctrine of necessaries whereby a spouse is jointly liable for necessary expenses incurred by the other spouse. As a result, the plaintiff could not rely on preemption as the basis for her …
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…
