Sponsors (53)
The bill reduces reporting burdens and compliance costs for lenders and small businesses but does so at the cost of removing data that regulators, communities, and advocates rely on to detect discrimination, measure lending gaps, and target remedies — increasing the risk of worsened credit access and weaker enforcement for disadvantaged borrowers.
Financial institutions (community banks, credit unions, and other lenders) save compliance costs and staff time previously spent collecting, maintaining, and reporting detailed small‑business lending data.
Small‑business owners face lower regulatory and reporting burdens, which could reduce administrative costs for applicants and lenders and (according to proponents) slightly lower barriers to getting credit.
The statutory code is simplified by removing section 1071/704B text and fixing cross‑references and table-of-contents entries, reducing legal complexity for regulated entities and state governments.
Regulators, enforcement agencies, and the public lose key data that helps detect and prove discriminatory small‑business lending practices, weakening fair‑lending enforcement and protections for applicants.
Less granular lending data will reduce transparency about lending gaps for disadvantaged or minority‑owned small businesses, making it harder to identify disparities and design targeted remedies or support.
Regulators' diminished ability to monitor market trends and target interventions could worsen credit access for low‑income and underserved communities by delaying or preventing data‑driven corrective action.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal requirement that lenders collect and report small-business loan application and demographic data (Section 1071/704B).
Official title: To repeal the small business loan data collection requirements under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Introduced February 4, 2025 by Roger Williams · Last progress February 4, 2025
Repeals the federal requirement that lenders collect and report demographic and other data about small-business loan applications (the provision added by Section 1071/704B). The bill removes the statutory text and cross-references that created those data-collection obligations, eliminating the legal duty for covered financial institutions and the agencies that implemented the rule to gather and publish small-business lending data.