On March 9, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) issued an interpretive rule clarifying that the Equal Opportunity Credit Act (“ECOA”) and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The CFPB made clear that this prohibition also extends to “actual or perceived nonconformity with traditional sex- or gender-based stereotypes, and discrimination based on an applicant’s social or other association.” Specifically, the Bureau found that, under ECOA and Regulation B:
- (1) “sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination necessarily involve consideration of sex”;
- (2) “an applicant’s sex must be a ‘but for’ cause of the injury, but need not be the only cause”; and
- (3) “discrimination against individuals, and not merely against groups, is covered.”
Continue Reading CFPB Issues Interpretive Rule Clarifying that ECOA’s Prohibition of Discrimination Based on Sex Extends to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity