The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s fair lending work “is and will continue to be a critical component of the bureau and the federal government’s response to the pandemic and the elimination of racial injustice,” the bureau noted this week in its annual Fair Lending Report to Congress.
“The bureau will identify and act on opportunities to focus on consumers in underserved communities, while vigorously pursuing racial and economic justice,” Acting CFPB Director David Uejio wrote in a preface to the report. “This includes, but is in no way limited to, robust enforcement of fair lending laws under the bureau’s jurisdiction.”
The report recapped the CFPB’s fair lending supervision efforts in 2020, which focused primarily on mortgage origination, small business lending and student loan origination, according to the report. Due to the pandemic, about half of the bureau’s planned examination work was rescheduled, and it instead conducted prioritized assessments to evaluate fair lending risks in the small business lending and mortgage servicing, automobile loan servicing and credit card markets. The report also highlights the bureau’s activities related to Equal Credit Opportunity Act enforcement, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting, guidance and rulemaking, interagency coordination and outreach.
