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comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  4036 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Me Anything You Want to About U.S. Federal Banking Regulations

What should a lender do if self-testing evidences lending discrimination?





_refugee_  ·  4036 days ago  ·  link  ·  

  1) determine the extent of the discrimination

  2) Should be a little more specific. Depending on the type of lending discrimintation may violate more laws than not. Mortgage discrimintation would violate Fair Housing Act as well as Reg B. Credit Card might just hit Reg B. BUT ANYWAY:

  3) If the violation just falls under Reg B and the bank engages in self-correction, according to my manual, "the reports, results, analysis, opinions, and conclusions of the self-test will be protected by a privilege." Sounds like if you work to fix it you can't get in trouble for it. But read this interesting bit: "The privilege will be lost if the information is voluntarily disclosed to the government or the public or is used in any manner as a defense to a discrimination charge." 
So, it sounds like if the bank self-tests and takes action to fix the problem, AS LONG AS they don't tell the regulatory agency or the public, they are OK. However I'm not sure how this would apply in the context of regulatory exams, which would probably uncover both the discriminatory problem and the remediation put into place.
thenewgreen  ·  4036 days ago  ·  link  ·  

(I was thinking reg B) If a lender discovers discriminatory practices, it should make all reasonable efforts to determine the full extent of the discrimination and its cause, e.g., determine whether the practices were grounded in defective policies, poor implementation or control of those policies, or isolated to a particular area of the lender's operations. The lender should take all appropriate corrective actions to address the discrimination.

Your answer is a good one. You're going to do great! Good luck

_refugee_  ·  4034 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Your answer is a good one. You're going to do great! Good luck

Thank you. :)