FTC Staff Provides Annual Letter to CFPB with ECOA Activities

The staff of the Federal Trade Commission has provided the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with an annual summary of its activities enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

The FTC is responsible for ECOA enforcement and education regarding most non-bank financial service providers. In its 2018 summary, FTC staff describes the Commission’s work on ECOA-related policy issues, including activities addressed in research and policy development, such as:

• The seventh session of the agency’s Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century on the use of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics in business decisions and conduct;
• A qualitative study of consumers’ experiences in buying and financing automobiles at dealerships;
• The continued work of its Military Task Force, comprised of a cross-section of agency representatives with a focus on military consumer protection issues, and various FTC initiatives to assist military consumers; and
• Its continued participation as a member of the Interagency Task Force on Fair Lending, a joint undertaking with the CFPB, the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the federal banking regulatory agencies.

The summary also outlines the Commission’s business and consumer education efforts on fair lending issues.

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