On October 1, 2026, the CFPB released its annual report on fair lending, covering the Bureau’s activities during calendar year 2025. The report describes how the CFPB shifted its fair lending approach under the Trump administration, refocusing its regulatory, supervisory, and enforcement activities on its statutory authority and identified consumer harm.
According to the report, the CFPB’s fair lending efforts in 2025 focused on addressing intentional discrimination, ending the use of disparate impact in supervision and enforcement, addressing unlawful debanking, and reversing actions the Bureau viewed as regulatory overreach. The CFPB also stopped consulting with institutions on special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) based on race, color, national origin, or sex.
The report highlights two major fair lending rulemakings initiated in 2025 and finalized in 2026. One amended Regulation B under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), addressing disparate impact liability, eligibility criteria for SPCPs, and rules regarding discouragement in credit advertising. The other revised the CFPB’s Section 1071 small business lending rule, narrowing its scope, reducing required data points, and modifying data collection requirements to reduce compliance burdens and costs for financial institutions.
The full fair lending report can be found here.