Federal and state enforcement agencies
and private litigants use recordkeeping information to, for
example, compare accepted and rejected applicants or the terms and
conditions of accepted applicants in order to determine whether
applicants are treated less favorably on the basis of race, sex,
age, or other prohibited bases under the ECOA. Information derived
from these records provides an important piece of evidence of law
violations in ECOA enforcement actions brought by federal agencies.
Self-testing records (including for corrective action) are used by
creditors to identify potential violations and reflect their
efforts to correct the problem. Absent the Regulation B requirement
that creditors retain monitoring information, the CFPB's and other
agencies' ability to detect unlawful discrimination and enforce the
ECOA would be significantly impaired. The CFPB, other agencies, and
private litigants use adverse action notices, appraisal reports,
and other information in the application file to compare applicants
in order to determine whether any applicants are discriminated
against on the basis of race/national origin, sex, marital status,
age, or other prohibited bases under the ECOA. The adverse action
notice requirement apprises applicants of their rights under the
ECOA and of the basis for a creditor's decision. Applicants use
their copy of the appraisal to review (and possibly challenge) the
accuracy and/or fairness of the information contained within, and
to determine the role that the appraisal played in the credit
decision. Applicants use the self-testing disclosure to facilitate
understanding of creditors' information collection, including its
optionality.
US Code:
15
USC 1591 Name of Law: Equal Credit Opportunity Act
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.