Uejio says SPCPs may help economically disadvantaged homeowners

Federal Issues CFPB ECOA Regulation B Covid-19 Discrimination SPCP

On September 1, CFPB acting Director Dave Uejio spoke before the National Fair Housing Alliance’s forum on special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) to address discrimination and inequity trends in homeownership and explore ways that SPCPs could be used to promote fair and equitable access to credit and mortgage markets. Uejio discussed a Bureau report detailing the “enormous toll” that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on minority homeowners and cautioned that Black and Hispanic homeowners will be disproportionately represented in foreclosure data once pandemic housing protections end. To address these issues, Uejio referred to a Bureau advisory opinion issued last December, which provided creditors additional guidance for complying with ECOA to ensure the development of compliant SPCPs. (Covered by InfoBytes here.) While ECOA and Regulation B prohibit discrimination on a prohibited basis in any aspect of a credit transaction, SPCP provisions under the statute and regulation provide specific means to allow creditors meet special social needs and benefit economically-disadvantaged groups. “The SPCP provision in ECOA is also a recognition that government alone cannot solve this problem,” Uejio stated. “All of us—regulators, policymakers, nonprofits, advocates, and mortgage lenders—must work together.”