The CFPB’s Office of Fair Lending will focus on redlining, mortgage and student loan servicing and small business lending in the coming year
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Fair Lending announced its 2017 fair lending priorities Friday.
According to Patrick Ficklin, associate director of the bureau’s Office of Fair Lending, the CFPB will focus more on redlining, mortgage and student loan servicing and small business lending.
“We will continue to evaluate whether lenders have intentionally avoided lending in minority neighborhoods,” he said on the subject of redlining. Throughout 2016, the CFPB has expressed its stricter supervision on redlining through listing factors it uses in “assessing redlining risk in examinations and describing how the CFPB conducts its analysis of redlining risk.”
When it came to mortgage and student loan servicing, Ficklin revealed further intentions of vigilance: “We will determine whether some borrowers who are behind on their mortgage or student loan payments may have more difficulty working out a new solution with the servicer because of their race or ethnicity,” he said.
And on small business lending, Ficklin said Congress had expressed concern that women-owned and minority-owned businesses may experience discrimination when they apply for credit, and required the CFPB to take steps to ensure their fair access to credit.
The bureau also released a list of policy priority areas in February, focusing on plans to form a small-business-lending team, market research for establishing rules on business-lending data collection and to maintain examination of small-business lenders for fair lending.
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According to Patrick Ficklin, associate director of the bureau’s Office of Fair Lending, the CFPB will focus more on redlining, mortgage and student loan servicing and small business lending.
“We will continue to evaluate whether lenders have intentionally avoided lending in minority neighborhoods,” he said on the subject of redlining. Throughout 2016, the CFPB has expressed its stricter supervision on redlining through listing factors it uses in “assessing redlining risk in examinations and describing how the CFPB conducts its analysis of redlining risk.”
When it came to mortgage and student loan servicing, Ficklin revealed further intentions of vigilance: “We will determine whether some borrowers who are behind on their mortgage or student loan payments may have more difficulty working out a new solution with the servicer because of their race or ethnicity,” he said.
And on small business lending, Ficklin said Congress had expressed concern that women-owned and minority-owned businesses may experience discrimination when they apply for credit, and required the CFPB to take steps to ensure their fair access to credit.
The bureau also released a list of policy priority areas in February, focusing on plans to form a small-business-lending team, market research for establishing rules on business-lending data collection and to maintain examination of small-business lenders for fair lending.
Related stories:
CFPB says 4 dozen mortgage companies may be violating disclosure requirements
