NLIHC Joins National Fair Housing Alliance in “Equal Credit Opportunity Act” Proposed Rulemaking Comment with Over 75 Civil Rights Organizations

By Kayla Blackwell, NLIHC Senior Housing Policy Analyst 

NLIHC joined the National Fair Housing Alliance’s comment letter urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to abandon proposed changes to Regulation B, which implements the “Equal Credit Opportunity Act” (ECOA). The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on November 13 with a 30-day comment period, would weaken fair lending protections and significantly erode opportunities for affordable credit for people in marginalized communities.  

Congress passed ECOA in 1974 to protect women from discrimination in accessing credit without needing a husband or male relative to co-sign a loan. In drafting this legislation, signed by President Ford, Congress sought to ensure fair lending practices by protecting individuals from discrimination by lenders based on sex and marital status. In 1976, Congress expanded ECOA to provide similar protections based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, the receipt of public assistance (including Social Security, disability insurance, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance), and exercising consumer rights.   

The letter discusses three ways the proposed rule would eviscerate fair lending and consumer protections: 

1. The proposed rule would allow for lending practices that disproportionately harm people based on characteristics such as race, sex, or marital status, among others. 
2. The proposed rule would allow banks to target their business in predominantly white neighborhoods, effectively allowing redlining practices that deny Black, Latino and other marginalized communities access to mortgage lending.
3. The proposed rule would effectively eliminate Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs), which are specifically authorized to support applicants on the basis of ECOA’s protected classes. SPCPs help make homeownership more accessible for first-generation homebuyers through programs such as downpayment assistance.  

Read the comment letter here.  

Read the press statement from NFHA here.  

Read the ECOA Regulation B proposed rule here.