On December 23, the CFPB released its annual fair lending report, which reviews the agency’s enforcement and supervision activities for 2024 and described a significant policy shift in fair lending oversight since the close of the reporting period, reflecting changes implemented under the current administration. The report stated that the CFPB concentrated its 2024 supervision and enforcement efforts on mortgage origination, small business lending, and the use of automated systems in credit card originations. The agency reported it resolved three public enforcement actions related to fair lending and referred four matters to the DOJ for patterns or practices of discrimination under ECOA. In 2024, the CFPB also issued new rules on automated valuation models (covered by InfoBytes here) and extended compliance deadlines for small business lending data collection (covered here).
The report also chronicled shifts in policy and actions the CFPB has taken under the current administration. The CFPB stated that, in response to executive orders, it will no longer use disparate impact as a basis for fair lending supervision or enforcement. According to the report, the agency closed all open exams and investigations that relied on disparate impact liability and terminated related enforcement orders. The report further noted that the CFPB withdrew 67 guidance documents in May 2025 to align with current administrative priorities. The CFPB stated it now focuses its fair lending resources on matters with “direct evidence of intentional racial discrimination and identified victims” and emphasized its ongoing commitment to protecting service members, veterans, and consumers facing “actual fraud.”
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