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Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Reg B)

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Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Reg B)

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which is part of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, was adopted on May 29, 1968. The law is designed to promote credit availability to all credit-worthy applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age.

The ECOA requires bankers to treat all similarly situated credit applicants equally based solely on their credit qualifications and not any of the prohibited bases such as race, national origin, gender or age. It is one of the two main pillars of the nation’s fair lending laws (the other is the Fair Housing Act). The statute is implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Regulation B.

Statutes

15 U.S.C. 1691

Rules & Regulations

Regulation B (12. C.F.R. 1002)

Staff Analysis

Final Rule on Automated Valuation Models
July 11, 2024
CFPB 1071 Final Rule
August 11, 2023
Mitigating Fair Lending Risk in the Appraisal Process
September 20, 2022
CFPB Statement Regarding Limited English Proficiency
February 1, 2021

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ECOA Questions from the Hotline

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Agency Guidance

CFPB list of data points chart Version 1.3
August 16, 2024
CFPB Small Entity Compliance Guide Version 2.2
August 1, 2024
CFPB 1071 Interim Final Rule
July 3, 2024
CFPB FAQs on section 1071
September 1, 2023
Small business lending rulemaking
March 30, 2023
CFPB Small business lending collection and reporting requirements
March 30, 2023
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Reg B) Interpretive Rule
March 16, 2021
Equal Credit Opportunity (Regulation B); Special Purpose Credit Programs (Advisory Opinion)
January 15, 2021
Identification of Language Preference on the Uniform Residential Loan Application
November 20, 2017
CFPB Bulletin 2013-02: Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
March 21, 2013
Interagency Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending
April 15, 1994

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Exam Procedures

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Policy Library
News

Policy Library

Comment Letter
Letter to CFPB on Small Business Lending under ECOA
August 2, 2024
Staff Analysis
Final Rule on Automated Valuation Models
July 11, 2024
Letter to Congress & Regulators
Letter to CFPB on Circular 2023-03 addressing ECOA
February 12, 2024
Letter to Congress & Regulators
ABA Letter of Support re S.J. Res. 32
November 29, 2023

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News

Article
The 2024 compliance outlook
January 18, 2024
Article
Compliance question of the month: What methods may banks use to estimate gross annual revenue to determine their tier for data collection purposes under the §1071 rule?
August 18, 2023

Proposed Rules

CFPB: Interim Final Rule with Request for Comments on the Small Business Lending Rule

Proposed Rules & Recent Amendments

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B) Ethnicity and Race Information Collection
October 2, 2017

Related Training & Events

Reg B 1071
Self-Paced Training
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Reg B)
Self-Paced Training
Reg B Creditors' Requests for Information
Self-Paced Training
Reg B Overview
Self-Paced Training

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ABA Resources

Guide
ABA Toolbox on Fair Lending
October 31, 2016
Guide
Proposal to Require Financial Institutions to Report Data on Small Business Credit Applications: Comment Letter Writing Guide
December 10, 2021

Agency Materials

In Depth

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Our Experts

Kitty Ryan

Senior Vice President, Fair and Responsible Banking

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