The FTC has sent its annual letter to the CFPB reporting on the FTC’s activities related to compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B.

The FTC has authority to enforce the ECOA and Reg B as to nonbank providers within its jurisdiction. However, like last year’s letter on the FTC’s 2014 ECOA activities, the letter on 2015 activities does not include any specific 2015 FTC ECOA enforcement activity and only contains information about some of the FTC’s research and policy development efforts and educational initiatives.

With respect to fair lending research and policy development, the FTC’s efforts included hosting a public workshop on the growing use of online lead generation in various industries. The workshop was the subject of a series of three blog posts written by my colleagues Chris Willis and Teddy Flo. The FTC also published a notice seeking comment on a proposed survey of consumers to learn about their experiences in buying and financing automobiles at dealerships.

The FTC’s consumer and business educational initiatives included updating its publication on mortgage discrimination and issuing information on its business blog about changes to its Business Center website.