All in Fair Lending

On October 15, 2024, the CFPB and the DOJ took action against Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation for illegal mortgage lending discrimination against majority-Black neighborhoods in the greater Birmingham, Alabama area. According to the CFPB and DOJ, Fairway illegally redlined Black neighborhoods, including through its marketing and sales actions, by discouraging people from applying for mortgage loans in the Birmingham metropolitan area’s Black neighborhoods.

On July 17, 2024, the CFPB, FDIC, FHFA, FRB, NCUA, and OCC jointly issued a final rule, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, designed to help ensure the credibility and integrity of models used in valuations for certain mortgages secured by a consumer's principal dwelling. In particular, the rule will implement quality control standards for automated valuation models (AVMs) used by mortgage originators and secondary market issuers in valuing those homes.

On June 26, 2024, the CFPB released its Fair Lending Annual Report to Congress, describing the Bureau’s fair lending activities in enforcement, guidance and rulemaking, interagency coordination, and outreach and activities for calendar year 2023. Specifically. The Fair Lending Annual Report to Congress fulfills the Bureau’s statutory responsibility to report annually to Congress on public enforcement actions taken under the ECOA as well as the utility of the HMDA’s mortgage loan data collection requirements.

VIDEO: Ways to Identify Redlining

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam explains a number of ways the examiners may identify redlining in an organization. In addition, he breaks down the different types of comparative evidence and overt evidence that could result in redlining. This video provides a great framework for understanding how redlining could appear in your financial institution.

VIDEO: What is Redlining?

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam explains what redlining is. In particular, Adam discusses the different definitions provided by the regulators as well as the different forms of redlining. A transcript of this video is now available.

VIDEO: What is a Protected Class

In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam discusses what a protected class is under fair lending. In particular, Adam talks about the protected classes under the two fair lending laws: Fair Housing Act and ECOA., and how they differ as well as how they overlap. A transcript of this video is now available.

On February 12, 2024, the FFIEC on behalf of its member entities, issued a statement related to valuation discrimination and bias for member entities to consider in their consumer compliance and safety and soundness examinations. The statement provides principles for the examination of supervised institutions’ residential property appraisal and evaluation (valuation) practices to mitigate risks that may arise due to potential discrimination or bias in those practices, and to promote credible valuations.