On July 27, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint and proposed consent order in a federal district court alleging that a mortgage company intentionally discriminated against families living in majority-minority neighborhoods around Philadelphia in violation of the Fair Housing Act…
A new essay published in the Emory Law Journal argues that two empirical studies of advertising by certain banks and payday lenders in Houston, Texas indicate that payday lenders steer African Americans and Latinos to their products, while banks market primarily to white consumers. The authors suggest that, consistent with…
On December 16, 2016, the fair lending team at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the markets that it would closely monitor in 2017. These new monitoring priorities are part of the general priority goals announced by the CFPB in 2016, which included: 1) regulating the use of arbitration clauses; 2) addressing…
On November 24, 2015, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a report sharply criticizing the CFPB’s methodology for enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) with regard to indirect automobile lending. The report, entitled, “Unsafe at Any Bureaucracy: CFPB Junk Science and Indirect Auto Lending,” adds to the…
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibits discrimination against applicants for credit—but what about guarantors who agree to be responsible for repayment? A federal regulation treats spousal guarantors as “applicants” who can sue under EOCA, but two federal appellate courts disagreed with each other about the question. The Supreme Court agreed on…
On September 18, CFPB Director Richard Cordray delivered remarks at a Field Hearing about CFPB’s latest proposed rule, which would allow it to begin regulating “captive” finance companies – those entities owned by automotive manufacturers “for the primary purpose of facilitating sales for their parent companies and associated dealers.” In his…
Synchrony Bank (formerly known as GE Capital Retail Bank) made two direct mail offers to its credit card holders, but it did not send the offers to Spanish-speaking customers. The Bank self-reported its actions, resulting in consent orders with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice, which…