ECOA Adverse Action Rules Training Course

ECOA, which is implemented by Regulation B, applies to all creditors. The primary purpose of ECOA is to prevent discrimination in the granting of credit by requiring banks and other creditors to make extensions of credit equally available to all creditworthy applicants with fairness, impartiality, and without discrimination on any prohibited basis. The regulation applies to consumer and other types of credit transactions.

Under Regulation B, a lender must notify an applicant of action taken on the loan application within 30 days after receiving a completed application. When a lender denies an application for credit, a notification of the adverse action must be given to the applicant in writing. The adverse action notice must contain the reason why the application for credit was rejected, as well as the name, address, and telephone number of the reporting agency or agencies that supplied the report used to make the decision. The consumer can use the information supplied on the adverse action to dispute the accuracy of the report's content. Adverse actions can also be issued if the application for credit was not complete.

This course will review the adverse action rules set forth in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand what an adverse action is as defined by ECOA.
• Describe the information that should be included in the notice.
• Outline the process of issuing adverse notices for complete or incomplete applications.