Concerns Over Fair Lending Oversight Emerge Amid DOJ Changes

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, or NCRC, announced on Wednesday a tip line for individuals who believe that fair lending laws have been violated. The tip line allows for confidential complaints regarding potential violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, redlining, or unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices.

NCRC's Van Tol stated that advocacy organizations have a crucial role in addressing the gaps created by the current administration, indicating that while public servants are hindered from fulfilling their duties, researchers and civil rights advocates are closely monitoring the situation.

Reports suggest that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, has ceased fair lending examinations, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has rolled back enforcement actions related to discrimination and deceptive practices.

Staffing cuts and political interference have also been noted at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration. According to Wolters Kluwer's regulatory violations intelligence index, total enforcement actions against financial services firms dropped by 37% from the last six months of 2024 to the first half of 2025.

In the first half of 2025, there were 99 enforcement actions compared to 158 in the previous six-month period under the Biden administration. Chuck Ross from Wolters Kluwer commented on the significant transformation in federal enforcement priorities, stating that the reduction in enforcement exceeds previous predictions.

The report highlights attempts to roll back aspects of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act and dismantle the CFPB, with less activity being observed at agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFPB, which have shifted focus to high-profile misconduct cases.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that the DOJ is eliminating disparate-impact liability under Title VI, stating it corrects a long-standing practice that required federal funding recipients to consider race in decision-making.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon supported this by asserting that previous disparate-impact regulations fostered lawsuits against racially neutral policies without evidence of intentional discrimination.

Critics, including David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, argue that this change weakens protections against discriminatory outcomes, noting that discrimination often lacks explicit intent and can only be effectively detected through an analysis of outcomes and patterns.

Dworkin described the rollback of disparate impact tools as obscuring discrimination rather than ending it, emphasizing that enforcement is critical in combating persistent discrimination.