Sponsors (2)
Limits CFPB demographic data collection/reporting under the ECOA, adds procedural protections, narrows covered lenders, delays effectiveness, and defines "small business" by $1M revenue.
Official title: Amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to modify the requirements associated with small business loan data collection, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Katie Boyd Britt · Last progress July 17, 2025
The bill strengthens applicant privacy and adds procedural transparency while giving lenders transition relief, but it narrows who must report data and delays or limits the data and enforcement tools regulators need to detect discrimination.
Loan applicants (especially low-income individuals and small-business owners) will be explicitly told that providing demographic information is voluntary and that it won't affect credit decisions, and firms are barred from inferring demographics by visual observation — increasing applicant privacy and reducing fear of discrimination when applying for loans.
Taxpayers and stakeholders will get more transparency and a formal opportunity for public input because the CFPB must use notice-and-comment rulemaking before deleting or modifying reported demographic data.
Financial institutions (and the small-businesses they lend to) get a 2-year safe harbor after the rule's effective date to come into compliance, reducing immediate enforcement risk and allowing time to adapt systems and practices.
Small lenders and their borrowers (including many community lenders, CDFIs, Farm Credit, and equipment/vehicle financiers) are largely exempted by narrowing the definition of covered institutions, reducing data collection and limiting oversight of discrimination in those credit markets.
Applicants and small-business borrowers will wait longer for protections and improved oversight because the rule's effective date can be delayed until three years after CFPB analyses — and with a subsequent 2-year safe harbor, meaningful changes could be postponed for up to five years.
Borrowers and regulators will have less information to detect discriminatory patterns because certain enumerated demographic data elements are removed from the statute, narrowing the scope of demographic data collected.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to limit and add procedural safeguards on Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) collection and reporting of applicant demographic data. It narrows which lenders are covered, bars certain non-applicant-derived compilations of characteristics, requires rulemaking before changing reported data, creates a delayed effective date tied to cost/ paperwork reviews, and establishes a two-year safe harbor after the rule becomes effective. The bill also changes required applicant notices so applicants must be told the CFPB requires the collection and reporting, that responses are voluntary and won’t affect credit decisions, and it defines a $1,000,000 revenue test for what counts as a "small business." Several lender types (under $10 billion in assets, Farm Credit System, CDFIs, and equipment/vehicle lenders) are excluded from coverage.