Archive

SCOTUS SEXUAL ORIENTATION DECISION

On June 15, 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), in Bostock v Clayton County, Georgia (Bostock) ruled that firing an employee for being homosexual or transgender constitutes discrimination based on the employee’s sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Bostock is an employment case in which SCOTUS determined that disparate treatment of  homosexual or transgender individuals is sex discrimination. Both the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Fair Housing Act […]

REGULATION B – CLARIFICATION FOR PPP LOANS

On May 6 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued three clarifying Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQs) to support small businesses who have applied for a loan from their financial institution under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Question 1. – Creditors are generally required under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B to notify applicants within 30 days of receiving a “completed application” of the creditor’s approval, counteroffer, denial or […]

CORONA RELIEF – ECOA VALUATION RULE

On April 29, 2020 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a Compliance Aid dealing with the ECOA Valuation Rule. The Aid, which is in Question/Answer format, was effective upon publication. QUESTION 1: Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing Regulation B, creditors are required to provide applicants for first-lien loans on a dwelling with copies of appraisals, as well as other written valuations (collectively, “valuations”), developed in connection with the application […]

CFPB PUBLISHES FALL 2019 UNIFIED AGENDA

Recently the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its Fall 2019 rulemaking agenda. The agenda identifies the regulatory matters that the CFPB reasonably anticipates having under consideration during the period from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The following summaries a few key topics: Proposed Fair Debt Collection Rule (Regulation F) – The CFPB proposed Regulation F in May 2019.  Now the CFPB is testing consumer disclosures related to time-barred debt and, after testing, […]

HAS REDLINING ENFORCEMENT RETURNED?

At the end of the Obama administration redlining consent decrees were becoming coming. Redlining cases, once the purview of large banks, had drifted down to the community bank level. Since the beginning of 2016 redlining cases have dried up, other than one case left over from the prior administration that was settled favorably for the bank. On June 13, 2009 The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of […]