Since March 16, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) has expanded its authority to act to "better protect families and communities from illegal discrimination, including situations where fair lending laws may not apply." On March 16, the CFPB announced a policy change through revisions to its examination manual dealing with unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) that provided details about the types of discrimination it intends to address under the UDAAP standards. The CFPB notes that discrimination may meet the criteria for "unfairness" by causing substantial harm to consumers that they cannot reasonably avoid, thus expanding discrimination through UDAAP to advertising, pricing, and areas of bank operations other than lending. In contrast to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which until recently applied primarily to applicants for credit, the CFPB's unfairness authority applies to all consumer financial products or services, such as collections payments, remittances, and deposits. At this point, the federal prudential regulators do not appear to have followed suit. However, the more subjective standard for unfairness certainly implies expanded risk of disparate impact analysis. Continue reading >