New Jersey's Big Bet on Disparate Impact: What the AG's New Rules Mean for Lenders and AI — The Consumer Finance Podcast
On May 4, the OCC released its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluations for 21 national banks and federal savings associations, assessing how well these institutions met the credit needs of their communities,...more
On April 22, the CFPB finalized amendments to Regulation B, which implements the ECOA (previously covered by InfoBytes here). The rule, effective July 21, finalizes the three principal changes to Regulation B: (i) eliminating...more
On February 9, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington denied a motion for preliminary injunction in a case challenging Washington’s Covenant Homeownership Program, a special purpose credit program...more
On February 2, the OCC released its CRA performance evaluations for 29 national banks and federal savings associations, assessing how well these institutions met the credit needs of their communities, including low- and...more
In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Regulatory Oversight, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Lori Sommerfield and Matthew Berns to discuss New Jersey's sweeping new disparate impact...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
On January 2, the FDIC issued its list of banks recently evaluated for compliance under the CRA for January 2026. The CRA requires the FDIC to assess how well banks meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including...more
The saga of the CFPB’s section 1071 small business data collection and reporting rule continues. Rise Economy, fka California Reinvestment Coalition (Rise), the National Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), the Main Street Alliance...more
On July 16, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the federal banking agencies) jointly published a proposed rule...more
On July 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued Bulletin 2025-16, announcing the removal of references to disparate impact liability from the “Fair Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook and...more
n June 23, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released an update to its 2015 report on Americans who did not have a credit record (credit invisibles) or who had insufficient credit history to have a...more
The CFPB says it wants to scrap a Biden Administration rule that prohibits credit reporting agencies from including medical debts on credit reports, one of many Biden era rules that the Trump Administration has sought to...more
On March 28, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (together, the federal banking agencies) announced their intent to rescind the...more
In a significant policy shift under the Trump administration, the new Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte issued an order on March 25, 2025 terminating special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) supported...more
Republican senators have introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the rule that bans banks and credit unions from including medical debt on credit reports and generally prohibits the use of medical...more
On January 16, U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced H.R. 478, the “Promoting New Bank Formation Act,” which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services. This bill aims to support the establishment and...more
Republicans on Capitol Hill are seeking to repeal a section of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires financial institutions to report information contained in loan applications submitted by women-owned, minority-owned and...more
The percentage of unbanked households in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in 2023—4.2%–, the FDIC recently reported....more
On October 10, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark redlining settlement with Citadel Federal Credit Union (Citadel), marking the first such agreement with a credit union in the DOJ’s history. This...more
The Justice Department announced that Citadel Federal Credit Union has agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of redlining majority-Black and Hispanic...more
On October 24, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the agencies) finally issued their long-awaited final...more
On August 28, 2023 the Social Equity Council (SEC) and Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) announced the launch of the much anticipated Canna-Business Revolving Loan Fund that will provide...more
On June 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released two reports detailing access to banking and the financial experience of consumers living in the Southern states. Many areas of the South are considered...more
The CFPB has published a document on its website that “communicates the extent to which the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing Regulation B apply with respect to franchises seeking credit to finance...more
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) Chair Martin Gruenberg gave remarks to the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund 2023 Bank On National Conference recently in which he said that the FDIC “shares the Bank On...more