Fair Lending

SBA: Center of Faith Launched Including Removal of Ban on Disaster Relief for Faith Organizations

Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched its Center for Faith to empower faith-based businesses, community organizations, and houses of worship with access to capital, counselling, and government contracting opportunities. As part of its commitment to ending federal discrimination against religious entities, the agency is also eliminating a regulation, previously upheld by the Biden…

OCC: References to Disparate Impact Removed from OCC “Fair Lending” Booklet and No Longer Included in Examinations

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has removed references to supervising banks1  for disparate impact liability from the “Fair Lending” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook and has commenced removing references in other issuances. Concurrently, the OCC has instructed its examiners that they should no longer examine for disparate impact. Note for Community Banks The OCC’s…

FFIEC: 2024 HMDA Data on Mortgage Lending Published

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) recently published data on 2024 mortgage lending transactions reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) by 4,908 U.S. financial institutions. The Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset released contains the national HMDA datasets as of May 19, 2025. The FFIEC released several data products to serve a variety of data users,…

HUD: Secretary Scott Turner Commemorates Fair Housing Month

Championing Faith, Freedom, and Fair Housing for all Americans U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner today recognized April as Fair Housing Month, unveiling this year’s theme: “Faith, Freedom, & Fair Housing.” Secretary Turner marked the historical milestone with a message reaffirming HUD’s responsibility to uphold the Fair Housing Act and…

OCC: Bulletin Issued to Update OCC Contact Information for Certain Community Reinvestment Act, Fair Housing Act, and Equal Credit Opportunity Act Notices and Posters

Summary This bulletin informs banks1 of the appropriate names and addresses for notices required by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and for posters required by the Fair Housing Act. Banks should make the appropriate changes to their notices and posters, if necessary, within 90 days of this bulletin’s date of issuance….

CFPB: 2024 HMDA Data on Mortgage Lending Now Available

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Modified Loan Application Register (LAR) data for 2024 are now available on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) HMDA Platform for approximately 4,898 HMDA filers. The published data contain loan-level information filed by financial institutions and modified to protect consumer privacy. To increase public accessibility, the annual loan-level LAR data…

Congressman Williams Introduces 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act

Today, Congressman Roger Williams (TX-25) introduced legislation to repeal the small business loan data collection requirements established under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This bill seeks to eliminate costly regulatory burdens on financial institutions, ensuring greater access to credit for small businesses. “Small businesses are the backbone of the American…

CFPB: Pilot Study Finds Differential Treatment in Small Business Lending Markets

Lenders less likely to encourage Black entrepreneurs and more often steer them toward alternative financing Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a study revealing significant disparities in how lenders treat Black and white small business owners seeking loans. The research found that Black entrepreneurs received less encouragement to apply for a loan and…

HUD: Disaster Aid Offered to Vermont Storm Victims

Federal aid supports state, Tribal and local recovery for July 9-11, 2024 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced the implementation of federal disaster assistance for the State of Vermont and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm, flooding, landslides,…