This bill, the Fair Lending for All Act, would add new tools to prevent and punish credit discrimination. It creates an Office of Fair Lending Testing inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). That Office would run tests of lenders by using people who pose as prospective borrowers to gather information, and would refer suspected violations to the Attorney General. The bill expands the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to add protections against discrimination based on ZIP Code or census tract, income from public assistance, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other listed categories. It changes wording in the ECOA so "person" and "aggrieved person" can bring claims. The bill creates criminal penalties for knowingly and willfully violating the ECOA, including fines and possible prison terms for individuals, for patterns or practices of violations, and potential personal liability for executive officers and directors. The CFPB would also review loan applications and application processes and could ban those it finds violate federal consumer financial laws. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collected by lenders would be expanded to include ZIP Code and additional applicant characteristics; privacy rules for that data would be adjusted. The CFPB and Attorney General reporting to Congress would be expanded to include testing analysis and summaries of criminal enforcement under the new criminal section.
No publicly available information on total cost or budget estimates beyond the bill's requirement that the Office's Director provide an estimated annual budget to the CFPB Director.
The bill's text states its purposes: to establish an Office of Fair Lending Testing, to strengthen the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, to ensure injured persons and organizations can seek relief, and to provide criminal penalties for ECOA violations.
No publicly available information.