Best Practices for Complying with Fair Lending Laws

Executive Summary* The fair lending laws are a set of statutory and regulatory requirements designed to protect members of the population who historically have not had fair and equal access to credit. Federal regulators have recently increased their investigations of financial institutions for possible fair lending abuses.  The consequences of violating the fair lending laws can be dire, making it critically important for the boards of financial institutions to understand the laws and take steps to ensure compliance. *This article has been updated from an earlier version. The topic of fair lending has become a significant priority for the federal banking...