The NCUA on Wednesday outlined a series of Equal Credit Opportunity Act, or ECOA, nondiscrimination requirements in a letter to credit unions. The letter summarizes general nondiscrimination requirements and fair lending risk areas related to marital status, age, income consideration, redlining and indirect lending.
The ECOA prohibits creditor practices that discriminate on the basis of any of these factors, and the NCUA supervises for compliance with and enforces the ECOA with respect to federal credit unions that have $10 billion or less in total assets. Additionally, the ECOA requires the NCUA to refer certain violations to the U.S. Department of Justice.
For more information on managing compliance risks, credit unions can access the NCUA letter titled Risk-Focused Examinations and Compliance Risk. And for information on fair lending risk factors, including compliance program risk factors and overt indicators of discrimination, credit unions can view the Interagency Fair Lending Examination Procedures.