The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Wednesday (March 16) updated its supervisory operations<\/a> to \u201cbetter protect families and communities from illegal discrimination, including in situations where fair lending laws may not apply,\u201d according to a bureau press release.<\/p>\n The CFPB \u201cwill scrutinize discriminatory conduct that violates the federal prohibition against unfair practices\u201d at banks and companies across the U.S. The CFPB \u201cwill closely examine financial institutions\u2019 decision-making in advertising, pricing, and other areas to ensure that companies are appropriately testing for and eliminating illegal discrimination,\u201d the press release says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a person is denied access to a bank account because of their religion or race, this is unambiguously unfair,\u201d said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in the announcement. \u201cWe will be expanding our anti-discrimination efforts to combat discriminatory practices across the board in consumer finance.\u201d<\/p>\n The CFPB also published an updated exam manual today for evaluating unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices (UDAAPs) which notes that \u201cdiscrimination may meet the criteria for \u2018unfairness\u2019 by causing substantial harm to consumers that they cannot reasonably avoid, where that harm is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competition,\u201d the release says.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers can be harmed by discrimination regardless of whether it is intentional,\u201d according to the press release. The CFPB \u201cwill examine for discrimination in all consumer finance markets, including credit, servicing, collections, consumer reporting, payments, remittances, and deposits,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n
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