Overview
- Released on November 13, the proposed Regulation B rewrite would remove effects-based language and confine ECOA liability to intentional discrimination.
- The Bureau would limit the ‘discouragement’ prohibition to spoken or written words and visual images directed at applicants or prospective applicants under a knows-or-should-know standard.
- Targeted advertising aimed at specific audiences would not, by itself, be treated as discouraging to those outside the intended recipients.
- For-profit special purpose credit programs would be barred from using race, color, national origin, or sex as eligibility criteria and face stringent documentation and evidentiary requirements for any other protected-characteristic criteria.
- The analysis notes the SPCP restrictions are being advanced on a separate track and could apply even if other elements of the broader proposal face legal challenges.