HOPE Submits Public Comment Defending Disparate Impact Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

December 19th, 2025

Disparate impact is a critical legal tool that allows regulators, communities, and borrowers to challenge policies that appear neutral on their face but disproportionately harm historically vulnerable groups. For regions like the Deep South, where historic underinvestment and discrimination continue to shape access to credit, disparate impact enforcement is essential to ensuring that people can obtain fair access to mortgages, consumer credit, and small business loans. Without it, barriers to economic opportunity remain hidden and unaddressed.

HOPE has submitted a public comment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in response to the agency’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Docket No. CFPB-2025-0039. The comment strongly opposes the CFPB’s proposal to weaken long-standing fair lending protections e.g. disparate impact which has been a cornerstone of civil rights enforcement in credit markets for decades. The proposed changes would significantly limit the ability to identify and address discriminatory lending practices and would widen existing capital access gaps across the Deep South, especially in rural communities.

HOPE urges the CFPB to reject the proposed changes to Regulation B and to preserve disparate impact as a vital mechanism for enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Strong, consistent fair lending protections are necessary to ensure that consumers, homeowners, and small business owners across the Deep South can fully participate in the economy.

Read HOPE’s full comment is available here.