Enforcement Of Fair Mortgage Lending Laws And Regulations

Federal Fair Lending Laws, enacted in 1968 and 1974, prohibit discrimination in all forms of credit transactions, including consumer and business loans as well as mortgage loans. This report reviews federal efforts to strengthen enforcement of the fair lending laws, discusses the challenges federal regulators face in their efforts to detect discrimination and ensure compliance, and recommends actions to meet some of those challenges. Charts and tables.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) -- the "fair lending laws" -- prohibit discrimination in lending. Responsibility for their oversight is shared among three enforcement agencies -- HUD, the FTC, and Dept. of Justice -- and five depository institution regulators -- the FDIC, the Fed. Reserve, Nat. Credit Union Admin., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. This report examines: (1) data used by agencies and the public to detect potential violations and options to enhance the data; (2) fed. oversight of lenders that are identified as at heightened risk of violating the fair lending laws; and (3) recent cases involving fair lending laws and associated enforcement challenges. Illus.

First published in 1997, this volume features a wealth of contributions discussing mortgage lending discrimination and the role of the FHA, fair lending enforcement and the Decatur case, along with the future of mortgage discrimination research. This key civil rights debate in the wake of the Fair Housing Act 25 years prior is evaluated and clarified through rigorous review of fair lending research, applied projects and enforcement activities to date. It argues forcefully that the right to take out a mortgage to buy a home should be conditioned only upon one’s credit worthiness and not on one’s race or ethnic group.

This book provides the most comprehensive examination of community reinvestment and fair lending problems and policies currently available. It outlines the history of lending discrimination and redlining in U.S. mortgage and small business lending markets, and documents the persistence of such problems today. The author explains the role that government has played in developing banking and credit markets in the United States, from the creation of Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States to the ongoing support government provides through the subsidization of secondary markets and through maintenance of critical regulatory infrastructure. Immergluck takes issue with those calling for deregulation of financial services - especially in the arena of fair lending and consumer protection - and gives new voice to rationales for social contract policies such as the Community Reinvestment Act. He provides new long-term analysis of the failure of federal bank regulators to enforce the CRA, and also shows how increased community activism and media attention have led to sporadic periods of stronger CRA enforcement. Finally, he recommends a number of policy changes that are needed to modernize the nation's fair lending and community reinvestment laws and make them more relevant for the 21st century.