# 2026-22645: CFPB Report Says Fair-Lending Enforcement Changed Its Focus

2026-22645, Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is a Federal Register notice from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published 2026-11-06, effective 2026-10-01; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-06).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-22645
- As of: 2026-11-06
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Document number: 2026-22645
- Title: Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Type: Notice
- Agencies: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Citation: 91 FR 70067
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Effective: 2026-10-01
- Comments close: not stated
- Significant: no
- Touches household money: yes
- Regulation identifier numbers: none
- Last updated: 2026-11-06

## In one line

CFPB Report Says Fair-Lending Enforcement Changed Its Focus

## Summary

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) updated its fair lending program in 2025 to focus only on real cases of racial discrimination that harm consumers. They stopped overreaching and now work within their legal limits, protecting people’s rights while making sure lenders play fair. This means banks and lenders will face clearer rules and fairer enforcement starting now, helping protect borrowers and saving money by avoiding unnecessary investigations.

## Abstract

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is issuing its Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Fair Lending Report) to Congress. This report describes our fair lending activities in rulemaking; supervision and enforcement; interagency coordination; and stakeholder engagement for calendar year 2025.

## Effects PRIA read

- Disparate-Impact Liability Ended: cost, medium. The CFPB stopped using disparate impact as a theory of liability in fair lending supervision and enforcement. The Bureau issued a final rule on April 22, 2026, removing the longstanding “effects test” language from Regulation B and affirming that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) does not aut…
- Race-Based SPCPs Prohibited for For‑Profit Creditors: cost, medium. The CFPB's April 22, 2026 final rule amended Regulation B to prohibit for-profit creditors from using race, color, national origin, or sex as eligibility criteria for special purpose credit programs (SPCPs). The CFPB also rescinded a December 2020 advisory opinion on SPCPs on June 17, 2026 to align…
- Small-Business Reporting Rule Narrowed: benefit, high. On May 1, 2026 the CFPB issued a final rule revising its section 1071 small business lending rule: it narrowed covered credit products to loans, lines of credit, and credit cards (excluding merchant cash advances, agricultural lending, and small‑dollar business credit); raised the loan origination…
- Debanking Review and Religious-Discrimination Focus: benefit, medium. Combating unlawful debanking was made a CFPB priority in 2025 and the Bureau reviewed supervisory materials, complaints, and guidance for reputation-risk concepts that could lead to unlawful debanking. The CFPB said it evaluates institutions for compliance with ECOA and the Fair Credit Reporting Ac…
- Narrowed 'Discouragement' Rule Protects Targeted Ads: cost, low. The CFPB's April 22, 2026 final rule narrowed the ECOA anti-discouragement provision so that prohibited “statements” are limited to spoken or written words or visual images (not broader acts or practices), and liability attaches only where a creditor knows or should know a statement would cause a r…

## Related documents

- [2026-08494](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-08494): Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), 2026-05-01
- [2026-07804](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-07804): Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), 2026-04-22
- [2025-19865](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-19865): Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), 2025-11-12
- [2025-19864](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-19864): Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), 2025-11-12
- [2025-19689](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-19689): Registry of Nonbank Covered Persons Subject to Certain Agency and Court Orders; Rescission, 2025-10-29
- [2025-19687](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-19687): Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings, 2025-10-29

## Sources
- [2026-22645 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/11/06/2026-22645/fair-lending-report-of-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau)
- [2026-22645 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-11-06/pdf/2026-22645.pdf)

## Related
- [Previous: 2026-22644, Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose of Recognition…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-22644)
- [Next: 2026-22646, Marine Mammals; File No. 29841](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-22646)
- [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-22645 (as of 2026-11-06).