Proposed Rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Threatens Civil Rights: On November 13, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a proposed rule that, if it is finalized and goes into effect, would have a devastating impact on our collective efforts to ensure fair and inclusive access to credit in the United States. First, the proposed rule would alter the CFPB’s longstanding interpretation that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) allows for disparate impact claims and instead codify in regulation that such claims are not available. For decades, consumers and government enforcers have used ECOA to effectively challenge unjustified policies and practices that disproportionately exclude people of color, women, and other protected class members from access to high-quality credit, regardless of whether a discriminatory intent undergirds the challenged policy or practice. In determining that disparate impact liability should not attach under ECOA, the CFPB runs roughshod over legislative history that could not possibly be clearer on the point in question.
Second, the proposed rule would significantly narrow the circumstances in which a prospective applicant could challenge lender practices that “discourage” them from seeking credit. Outrageously included among the proposed rule’s examples of inequitable practices would be permissible under the changed standard are decisions about where to locate bank branches, one of the most archetypal examples of redlining that one could find.
Third, the proposed rule would prohibit special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) that target assistance based on race, color, national origin, or sex while severely limiting other SPCPs. Congress authorized the creation of SPCPs because it knew that merely discontinuing discriminatory practices after decades of state-sanctioned bias would not ensure equitable access to credit and that, instead, affirmative efforts would be necessary. SPCPs have emerged as effective tool for, among other goals, reducing the racial wealth gap. As with disparate impact, the CFPB’s attack on SPCPs is disconnected from the legislative history of ECOA. The CFPB’s argument that limiting SPCPs helps avoid a potential constitutional conflict with the Equal Protection principle is especially implausible since the for-profit entities covered by the rulemaking are not state actors and because ECOA’s authorization of SPCPs does not compel the creation of SPCPs.
Rubbing salt in the wound, the CFPB is only allowing 30 days, rather than the customary 60, for public comment on these momentous changes. That notwithstanding, the civil rights and consumer protection communities will mobilize to resist these harmful and unlawful changes.
Other news and resources
Resident-Owned Manufactured Home Parks As a Model for Rural Social Housing: Virginia Housing, the Commonwealth’s housing finance agency, highlights the financial support that it provided, in the form of both a loan and a grant, for the purchase of a manufactured home park by its residents in rural Buena Vista, Virginia. Such acquisitions help ensure long-term affordability and shift our housing system towards one aligned with social housing principles, illustrating that the fight for housing justice spans urban, suburban, and rural areas. ROC USA, a national leader in the use of this model, assisted the residents with executing their purchase.
Will the Floodgates Re-Open with the Government?: Regulatory policy wonks – especially those focused on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – have gotten something of a reprieve over the last six weeks, with the government shutdown resulting in a slowdown of rulemaking activity, which is generally not considered to be “essential” work. With the shutdown seemingly on the verge of ending, we will have to be on our toes as it is possible that certain harmful changes that had been stalled will move quickly.
A Break from the Parade of Horribles – Scorsese Edition: The PRRAC Update – especially this year – has tended to make for heavy reading. That is – to be frank – as it should be. We should not bury our heads in the sand as horrific changes threaten to unravel decades of painfully slow progress. That, however, does not mean we cannot seek to lighten things up from time to time. To ease incrementally into lightening things up, we are using a filmmaker who plumbs the deepest and most disturbing depths of the human condition as a jumping off point for our temporary distraction: Martin Scorsese, who is the subject of a great new docu-series on Apple TV+. With that, here are some of our team’s personal top-threes from Scorsese’s filmography:
- Dave: (1) The Departed, (2) Taxi Driver, and (3) Goodfellas.
- Tessa: (1) Taxi Driver, (2) The Wolf of Wall Street, and (3) The Irishman.
- Thomas: (1) Mean Streets, (2) Goodfellas, and (3) Casino.
