On October 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released its Fair Lending Report for 2025, documenting a significant overhaul of the Bureau’s fair lending program under current leadership. The report describes a deliberate pivot away from the enforcement priorities of prior administrations toward what the CFPB characterizes as a narrower, more statutorily-grounded approach focused on proven, intentional discrimination with identifiable victims. The report also notes that, consistent with President Trump’s agenda, the CFPB has prioritized implementation of several executive orders, including directives prohibiting unlawful debanking, terminating discriminatory preferences, and ending the use of disparate impact in enforcing federal fair lending laws.
The End of Disparate Impact Theory
Consistent with Executive Order 14281, “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” the CFPB reports that it has entirely ceased using disparate impact theories in its fair lending supervision and enforcement activities. The Bureau closed out open examinations and investigations that relied on disparate impact and terminated existing consent orders that were premised on that theory. This shift was codified through rulemaking. As discussed here, in April 2026, the CFPB finalized changes to Regulation B that strip the longstanding “effects test” from the regulation and affirmatively state that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) does not authorize disparate impact claims. Of course, without legislative action to amend ECOA or a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether disparate impact is cognizable under ECOA, this action by the CFPB has an uncertain impact in the context of litigation and even in the context of a future presidential administration that may renew the historic focus on disparate impact.
Special Purpose Credit Program Eligibility Narrowed
The CFPB also ended its practice of consulting with institutions on Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs) that use race, color, national origin, or sex as eligibility criteria. The same Regulation B final rule discussed above prohibits for-profit creditors from using those characteristics as SPCP eligibility factors, and in June 2026, the CFPB rescinded a 2020 advisory opinion that had addressed SPCP design, citing conflicts with the new rule. The CFPB and other federal agencies also rescinded the 2022 interagency statement on SPCPs in August 2026. We discussed these developments here and here.
Debanking as a New Priority
Implementing Executive Order 14331, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” the CFPB has dedicated significant resources to combating what it characterizes as unlawful “debanking,” reviewing its examination manual and other guidance to eliminate reputation-risk concepts, and scrutinizing consumer complaints and supervisory data for evidence of debanking tied to political or religious beliefs. The Bureau is also coordinating with the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Equal Access to Banking Task Force to address debanking issues more broadly.
Revisiting § 1071 Small Business Lending Data Collection and Reporting
The report also details substantial changes to the CFPB’s small business lending data collection and reporting rule implementing § 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. When compared to a prior version of the § 1071 rule from 2023, the May 2026 final rule (discussed here) narrows the scope of covered transactions (excluding merchant cash advances, agricultural lending, and small-dollar business credit), raises the covered-institution loan origination threshold from 100 to 1,000 loans annually, excludes Farm Credit System lenders, and lowers the small business revenue threshold from $5 million to $1 million. The CFPB estimates these changes will produce a one-time savings of nearly $100 million and ongoing annual savings of $166-181 million for affected institutions. Four related lawsuits challenging the original 2023 rule have been dismissed or are moving toward dismissal as a result.
Unwinding Prior Enforcement Actions
A substantial portion of the report is devoted to cataloging fair lending enforcement actions that the CFPB has taken steps to reverse, framed as correcting “weaponization” under prior leadership. Notable examples include the Bureau’s unsuccessful attempt to vacate its own consent order and return a $100,000 fine to Townstone Financial (discussed here), and the CFPB’s dismissal of claims in the Colony Ridge Development case (discussed here). The CFPB also terminated several older consent orders after determining that those institutions had already satisfied their obligations under the respective orders.
Supervision and Enforcement Scope and Activity Dramatically Reduced
During the reporting period, the CFPB notes that it rescinded its prior supervisory priorities and redirected its supervision efforts. The CFPB’s fair lending supervisory activities focus on compliance with ECOA and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). ECOA examinations are now more narrowly focused on uncovering direct evidence of intentional discrimination on a prohibited basis, systemic failures to provide applicants with notices of adverse action, and lenders’ systems for identifying risks of non-compliance with ECOA and Regulation B. HMDA examination work focuses only on validating the accuracy of key data points collected and reported by lenders.
The CFPB closed 76% of its supervisory actions (nearly 1,500) and the large majority of open examinations, with roughly 12% of closed actions related to fair lending. Unsurprisingly, the CFPB reports that it did not initiate any new fair lending supervisory activity, cite any fair lending violations, or refer any matters to the DOJ under ECOA during 2025, a marked contrast to prior years.
Regulatory Guidance Withdrawals
Acting under Executive Order 13891, the CFPB withdrew 67 guidance documents in May 2025, including seven fair lending-specific bulletins and interpretive rules dating back to 2012, such as guidance on indirect auto lending compliance and a 2021 interpretation extending ECOA protections to sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. We discussed this development here.
Interagency Data Points
Separately, the report’s statutory reporting sections show that across all 11 agencies with ECOA enforcement authority, no public enforcement actions for ECOA violations were brought in 2025, although 140 institutions were cited for ECOA or Regulation B violations during examinations. The National Credit Union Administration made four referrals to the DOJ, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made one. The CFPB, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Federal Reserve made no referrals to DOJ during 2025.
Our Take
Under President Trump, the CFPB has transformatively shifted the way it examines, supervises, and enforces fair lending laws for legal entities under the Bureau’s purview in an unprecedented manner. The 2025 Fair Lending Report reflects a fundamental redefinition of the CFPB’s fair lending mission, one centered narrowly on intentional discrimination with identifiable victims, paired with a broader deregulatory push through the Regulation B and § 1071 final rules, and an active campaign to unwind enforcement actions and guidance issued under prior leadership.
While this pullback by the CFPB in terms of enforcing federal fair lending laws and reducing regulatory burden may be welcomed by the industry, regulated entities should keep in mind that these changes may not be permanent. Regulatory compliance is based on a retrospective review of lending activity, and the statute of limitations for ECOA is five years and, for the CFPB, three years from the date of discovery of an alleged violation. That means that lending activity occurring now will be subject to a “look-back” review by the next administration, if led by a Democrat in the White House. With the increase in state activity to enforce fair lending laws and the likelihood of private litigation over the next two years, this suggests that financial institutions and financial services companies should continue their fair lending risk management programs without interruption.