Regulation B - Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)

Why Should You Attend:

ECOA covers not only equal credit opportunity for borrowers; it covers how and when borrowers should receive notifications of action taken on their application, how and when they receive appraisals if applicable, and the furnishing of credit information. In 2014, the rule required institutions to send a notice concerning the right to receive a copy of the appraisal. Each application, whether denied or originated, would see an appraisal delivered to the borrower. In 2015, with the implementation of TRID, the initial appraisal disclosure was a part of the new loan estimate form. However, the delivery requirements for the appraisal remained the same.

While the notification requirements within ECOA have been the same for quite some time, there is still much confusion and inaccurate practices around the Notice of Incompleteness, Adverse Action Notices, and how to properly withdraw applications. This webinar will be a great refresher course to re-address these rules and ensure your organization is properly handling the required notifications.

Lastly, it is always a good idea to revisit your policies and procedures to ensure your organization is not creating a disparate impact to the markets you serve. While overt discrimination is extremely rare these days, policies can create a disparate impact which could land your organization in questioning for discrimination.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Notifications: Adverse Action Notices and Notice of Incompleteness
• Disparate Impact and How to Watch For It
• Protected Classes
• Timing Requirements for Appraisals
• Providing Credit Information

Who Will Benefit:

• Chief Compliance Officers
• Compliance Officers
• Operations Personnel
• Loan Officers or Sales Personnel
• Branch Managers

Kara Lamphere
Chief Compliance Officer and Director, Mid America Mortgage

Kara Lamphere is a financial services professional with 20+ years of experience. She is highly skilled in management with extensive experience in team building, training and employee development with proven success in managing: internal audit, compliance, quality control, fraud, counterparty risk and relations, correspondent operations, and accounting.

Ms. Lamphere has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and holds a Certified Internal Auditor license. Her experience has been predominately in financial services with a short stint in public accounting. She began her career as a teller and new accounts representative in college. Internal audit and compliance have been the focus of her career by serving as chief compliance officer of a bank, chief compliance officer of a mortgage lender, and VP-compliance for a mortgage subsidiary which generated $1 billion monthly in mortgage loans. She has also served as a consultant and auditor for banks ranging from $100MM in assets to over $1B in assets. Currently, she is Chief Compliance Officer and Director, Correspondent Lending for Mid America Mortgage

Topic Background:

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s (ECOA) purpose is to require institutions that provide extensions of credit to “make credit equally available to all creditworthy customers without regard to sex or marital status.” Moreover, the statute makes it unlawful for “any creditor to discriminate against any applicant with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction (1) on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status, or age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract); (2) because all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program; or (3) because the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.”

The act has two principal theories of liability: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treatment occurs when a creditor treats an applicant differently based on a prohibited basis such as race or national origin. Disparate impact occurs when a creditor employs facially neutral policies or practices which have an adverse effect or impact on a member of a protected class unless it meets a legitimate business need which cannot reasonably be achieved by means which are less disparate in their impact.

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