6-153.1
The following statement sets
forth the general policies that the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System will generally apply in enforcing the Equal Credit
Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act. The Board believes it appropriate
to remind state member banks of their responsibilities under these
laws and that the Board will vigorously enforce them. State member
banks will be required to institute procedures to ensure that all
violations of the acts, including those not cited in this policy statement,
will not recur. In addition, failure to comply with certain specific
provisions of the acts has been judged by the Board to be particularly
serious and usually to warrant retrospective action to correct the
conditions resulting from the violations.
The objective of this enforcement policy statement
is to ensure that the rights of credit applicants are protected by
requiring state member banks to take corrective action for certain,
more serious past violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity and Fair
Housing Acts as well as to be in compliance in the future. In an effort
to achieve that objective, the Board will encourage voluntary correction
and compliance with the acts. Whenever violations addressed by this
policy statement are discovered, the state member bank will be required
to take action to ensure such violations will not recur and to correct
the effects of violations discovered.
The Board generally will require the state member bank
to take action to correct conditions resulting from violations occurring
within 24 months prior to the discovery of violations by the Board,
except for violations concerning adverse action notices for which
corrective action will be required for violations occurring within
six months prior to discovery.
Violations in the following areas are considered serious
by the Board and will usually be subject to retrospective corrective
action:
- discouraging applicants on a prohibited basis in
violation of the Fair Housing Act or sections 202.4 or 202.5(a) of
Regulation B
- using credit criteria in a discriminatory manner
in evaluating applications in violation of the Fair Housing Act or
sections 202.4 through 202.7 of Regulation B
- imposing different terms on a prohibited basis in
violation of the Fair Housing Act or section 202.4 or 202.6(b) of
Regulation B
- requiring cosigners, guarantors or the like on a prohibited
basis in violation of section 202.7(d) of Regulation B
- failing to furnish separate credit histories as required
by section 202.10 of Regulation B
- failing to provide an adequate notice of adverse
action under section 202.9 of Regulation B
This policy statement will not preclude the use of any
administrative authority that the Board possesses to enforce these
laws, limit the Board’s discretion to take other action to correct
conditions resulting from violations of these laws, or preclude referral
of cases to the attorney general. Additionally, this policy statement
does not foreclose a credit applicant’s right to bring civil action
under the Equal Credit Opportunity or Fair Housing Acts or to file
a complaint with the Department of Justice or the Department of Housing
and Urban Development for violations of housing laws. Further, this
policy statement does not supersede or substitute for any regulations
or enforcement policies issued by the Board or the Department of Housing
and Urban Development under the Fair Housing Act.
