On June 26, 2013, in United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has noted on its blog that the decision has important consequences for its work. In order to fully implement the decision, the CFPB has taken steps to clarify how the decision affects the rules for which the agency is responsible. Recently, CFPB Director Cordray issued a […]
Category: ECOA
A DIFFERNT KIND OF FAIR LENDING LAWSUIT
Recently the City of Providence, Rhode Island filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Santander Bank, N.A. has discriminated against Providence’s minority communities by refusing to make prime mortgage loans available in minority neighborhoods as required under the Fair Housing Act. Providence is seeking millions in damages from Santander, Mayor Angel Taveras said, and hopes that federal regulators open investigations into potential redlining. Santander denied the allegations. Santander is owned by Spanish banking giant, Banco Santander […]
ECOA – DENIAL OF CLASS CERTIFICATION
In a recent case the Third Circuit (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virgin Islands)held that a discrimination lawsuit cannot be certified as a class action based solely on lender pricing discretion. Rodriguez v. National City Bank, 726 F.3d 372 (3d Cir. 2013). The plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit against National City Bank alleging that its policy of providing pricing discretion to loan officers had a disparate impact on minority applicants because a larger percentage of […]
ECOA DISCRIMINATION CASE
The Sixth Circuit dismissed an Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) lawsuit because the plaintiffs failed to make a case that the creditor denied their request for a loan restructuring for a discriminatory reason. 16630 Southfield Ltd. Partnership v. Flagstar Bank, F.S.B., 727 F.3d 502 (6th Cir. 2013). The plaintiffs, one of whom was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iraq, obtained a loan for a real estate venture. The loan was later restructured when the plaintiffs […]
COLLECTING GOVERNMENT MONITORING INFORMATION
The Fourth Quarter 2013 issue of Consumer Compliance Outlook, published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, contains an excellent article which reviews and compares the rules for collecting Government Monitoring Information (GMI) under Regulations B (Equal Credit Opportunity Act) and Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act). The article is available here.