CFPB Fair Lending Report Details Shift in Enforcement and Oversight
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its 2025 Fair Lending Report, which documents a significant overhaul of the CFPB’s fair lending program under current leadership.
CFPB said the report describes a deliberate pivot away from enforcement priorities of prior administrations toward what the CFPB characterizes as a narrower, more statutorily-grounded approach focused on proven, intentional discrimination with identifiable victims.
It also notes that, consistent with President Donald Trump’s agenda, the bureau has prioritized implementation of several executive orders, including directives prohibiting unlawful debanking, terminating discriminatory preferences, and ending the use of disparate impact in enforcing federal fair lending laws.
The End of Disparate Impact Theory
Consistent with Executive Order 14281, “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” the CFPB said it has stopped using disparate impact theories in its fair lending supervision and enforcement activities.
The CFPB said it closed open examinations and investigations that relied on disparate impact and terminated existing consent orders that were premised on that theory.
In April 2026, the CFPB finalized changes to Regulation B that strip the longstanding “effects test” from the regulation and affirmatively state that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) does not authorize disparate impact claims. It said that without legislative action to amend ECOA or a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether disparate impact is cognizable under ECOA, the CFPB’s action has an uncertain impact in the context of litigation and even in the context of a future presidential administration that may renew the historic focus on disparate impact.
Narrows Special Purpose Credit Program Eligibility
The CFPB said it also ended the practice of consulting with institutions on Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs) that use race, color, national origin, or sex as eligibility criteria. CFPB said the same Regulation B final rule prohibits for-profit creditors from using those characteristics as SPCP eligibility factors, and in June, the CFPB rescinded a 2020 advisory opinion that had addressed SPCP design.
It cited conflicts with the new rule. The CFPB and other federal agencies also rescinded the 2022 interagency statement on SPCPs in August 2026.
Debanking as a New Priority
Implementing Executive Order 14331, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” the CFPB said it has dedicated significant resources to combating what it characterized as unlawful “debanking,” reviewing its examination manual and other guidance to eliminate reputation-risk concepts, and scrutinizing consumer complaints and supervisory data for evidence of debanking tied to political or religious beliefs.
The CFPB said it is coordinating with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Equal Access to Banking Task Force to address debanking issues more broadly.
Revisiting Small Business Lending Data Collection, Reporting
The CFPB report also details substantial changes to its small business lending data collection and reporting rule implementing § 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
When compared to a prior version of the § 1071 rule from 2023, the May 2026 final rule narrows the scope of covered transactions (excluding merchant cash advances, agricultural lending, and small-dollar business credit), raises the covered-institution loan origination threshold from 100 to 1,000 loans annually, excludes Farm Credit System lenders, and lowers the small business revenue threshold from $5 million to $1 million.
The CFPB estimates these changes will produce a one-time savings of nearly $100 million and ongoing annual savings of $166-181 million for affected institutions.
Unwinding Prior Actions
CFPB noted that a large portion of the report is devoted to cataloging fair lending enforcement actions that the CFPB has taken steps to reverse, framed as correcting “weaponization” under prior leadership.
It said notable examples include the CFPB’s unsuccessful attempt to vacate its own consent order and return a $100,000 fine to Townstone Financial, and the CFPB’s dismissal of claims in the Colony Ridge Development case. The CFPB also terminated several older consent orders after determining that the institutions had already satisfied their obligations under the respective orders.
Supervision and Enforcement Scope and Activity Reduced
During the reporting period, the CFPB said that it rescinded its prior supervisory priorities and redirected its supervision efforts.
The CFPB said its fair lending supervisory activities focus on compliance with ECOA and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). ECOA examinations are now more narrowly focused on uncovering direct evidence of intentional discrimination on a prohibited basis, systemic failures to provide applicants with notices of adverse action, and lenders’ systems for identifying risks of non-compliance with ECOA and Regulation B.
HMDA examination work focuses on validating the accuracy of key data points collected and reported by lenders.
The CFPB said it closed 76% of its supervisory actions (nearly 1,500) and most of its open examinations, with roughly 12% of closed actions related to fair lending. The CFPB also reported that it did not initiate any new fair lending supervisory activity, cite any fair lending violations, or refer any matters to the DOJ under ECOA during 2025, in a marked contrast to prior years.
Regulatory Guidance Withdrawals
Acting under Executive Order 13891, the CFPB said it withdrew 67 guidance documents in May 2025, including seven fair lending-specific bulletins and interpretive rules dating back to 2012, such as guidance on indirect auto lending compliance and a 2021 interpretation extending ECOA protections to sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.
Interagency Fair Lending Data Points
Separately, CFPB said the report’s statutory reporting sections show that across all 11 agencies with ECOA enforcement authority, no public enforcement actions for ECOA violations were brought in 2025. It said that 140 institutions were cited for ECOA or Regulation B violations during examinations.
The National Credit Union Administration made four referrals to the DOJ, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made one. It said that the CFPB, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Federal Reserve made no referrals to the DOJ during 2025.
