Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Fair Lending Risks at the Checkout Counter — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Redlining Isn’t What it Used To Be
Discrimination and Bias in Residential Lending
On April 22, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), under Acting Director Russell Vought, issued a significant final rule reshaping the agency’s approach to fair lending enforcement under the Equal Credit...more
On April 22, NYDFS issued an industry letter to all entities regulated by the department under the New York Banking Law, outlining their obligations under New York’s fair lending law, N.Y. Executive Law § 296-a. The letter...more
On April 28, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed with prejudice a predatory lending and land sales case, while expressing serious concerns about the parties’ settlement agreement (covered by...more
For the first time since its enactment and implementation nearly 50 years ago, the CFPB is taking the position that ECOA does not authorize disparate-impact liability. On April 22, 2026, the CFPB published its final rule...more
In this special joint episode of Payments Pros and The Consumer Finance Podcast, guest host Taylor Gess joins Chris Willis and Lori Sommerfield to unpack fair lending risks in point-of-sale finance. They explain how...more
As reported by Law360, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided to move forward with its $68 million settlement with Colony Ridge Development LLC without seeking court approval or ongoing judicial oversight. The...more
On February 25, a group of Democratic senators issued a letter urging the OCC, FDIC, and NCUA to reinstate references to disparate impact liability in their respective organizations’ supervisory guidance. The letter argued...more
On January 12, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice withdrew their October 2023 joint statement regarding the implications of a creditor's consideration of an individual's immigration...more
On February 20, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG) announced that it has filed a complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia alleging that a real estate lending firm engaged...more
On March 6, 2026, a U.S. district court will consider whether to approve a settlement agreement resolving parallel lawsuits by the Texas attorney general (AG) and the federal government against Houston-area developer Colony...more
On February 10, DOJ announced a settlement agreement, pending approval in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, resolving claims brought by DOJ, the CFPB, and the state of Texas against a land developer...more
In December 2023, we blogged about lawsuits filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and later the State of Texas against Colony Ridge and related entities. The...more
The Justice Department and State of Texas recently entered into a settlement agreement with Colony Ridge Development, LLC and related entities (Colony Ridge) to settle allegations that Colony Ridge violated certain federal...more
DOJ and State of Texas announced a $68 million settlement of ECOA and FHA claims against a private land developer (the "Developer") concerning an alleged pattern or practice of discriminatory lending practices and high...more
On February 3, several U.S. senators sent a letter to CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought urging the Bureau to rescind its proposed rule that would end the ECOA’s disparate impact test, which would prevent the CFPB from...more
In this article, we share a timeline of monthly "bites" for the past year applicable to consumers protected by nondiscrimination and military protection laws....more
On November 13, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing various revisions to Regulation B. ...more
The Trump Administration issued an executive order in April 2025 directing federal agencies to no longer rely on the "disparate impact" theory of liability to find financial institutions and others guilty of discrimination...more
In this article, we share a timeline of monthly "bites" for the past year applicable to student lending....more
On January 14, HUD proposed a rule to rescind its regulations addressing disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act. The agency explained that questions about whether a housing practice has an unjustified...more
On January 12, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it had denied certiorari in a case challenging a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that addressed issues under the Fair Housing Act, including standards for equitable...more
Last week, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced a new regulation designed to ensure that licensed nonbank mortgage bankers in New York (“mortgage lenders”) meet the needs of the communities they...more
On January 12, the CFPB and DOJ withdrew their October 2023 joint statement addressing how creditors’ consideration of immigration or citizenship status may intersect with the ECOA. The joint statement, published in the...more
New York has adopted new regulations, 3 NYCRR Part 120, that will extend New York’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations to certain nonbank mortgage lenders operating in the state. Effective July 7, 2026, the rule...more
On January 12, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) formally withdrew their October 2023 joint statement addressing creditors’ consideration of immigration status under the...more