The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said today that it will prioritize redlining, mortgage and student loan servicing and small business lending in its fair lending enforcement activities this year.
Specifically, the bureau said it will evaluate whether lenders have “intentionally discouraged” potential applicants in minority neighborhoods from applying for credit and whether mortgage or student loan borrowers who fall behind face more difficulty in working out new payment plans because of a protected characteristic.
The bureau will also move ahead with its plans to collect data on and analyze small business lending to woman- and minority-owned firms, it said. The project, authorized by Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, is currently “focused on outreach and research and on the potential ways to implement Section 1071, after which the bureau will begin developing proposed rules concerning the data to be collected and determining the appropriate operational procedures and privacy protections needed for information-gathering and public disclosure,” it said.
The CFPB’s plans were included in its fifth annual Fair Lending Report, which also covered fair lending supervision, enforcement, rulemaking, interagency coordination and outreach in 2016.
- Read more from the ABA Banking Journal on redlining enforcement.
- View two key factors in complying with the revised servicing rules.