The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice announced on April 17, 2026, that they have withdrawn a joint statement the two agencies issued on October 12, 2023, concerning how creditors may consider an applicant's immigration or citizenship status under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its implementing rule, Regulation B.
The 2023 statement had cautioned that creditor policies tied to immigration or citizenship status could, in certain circumstances, run afoul of ECOA's and Regulation B's prohibition on discrimination based on protected classes, including race and national origin. The withdrawal reverses that position, with the agencies stating that ECOA and Regulation B already permit creditors to consider pertinent elements of creditworthiness and information necessary to protect creditor rights and remedies, including a borrower's immigration or citizenship status.
CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought said that for decades ECOA regulations have permitted lenders to consider a borrower's lawful residence status and other information necessary to protect their rights and remedies with respect to repayment, and that the agencies are correcting what he characterized as the last administration's attempt to ignore these well-accepted and common-sense principles of the nation's fair lending laws.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said the federal government is committed to avoiding statements that could confuse the law or imply compliance standards for civil rights laws that lack any statutory or regulatory basis, and that the administration is restoring alignment with established federal civil rights law rather than continuing the prior administration's ideologically-driven departures.
The agencies offered several additional rationales for the withdrawal: avoiding confusion about when lenders may legitimately consider immigration status, including when necessary to avoid financial risks or to comply with other laws; correcting any misimpression that the 2023 statement interpreted 42 U.S.C. § 1981 to confer liability beyond what courts have already recognized; and eliminating what the agencies described as unnecessary burdens from new or increased compliance efforts.
The withdrawal is a policy action, not a litigated ruling or enforcement decision. Lenders and compliance teams will need to assess how the reversal affects their existing fair-lending policies and procedures governing noncitizen applicants.