CFPB Rescinds Special Purpose Credit Programs Advisory Opinion

The CFPB has rescinded a December 2020 advisory opinion that addressed Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCP) offered by for-profit entities that use the common characteristics of race, color, national origin, or sex, or any combination thereof, as eligibility criteria. The advisory opinion had addressed the content of the written plan that would have been required for the SPCP and the data that could have been used to support a determination that the SPCP was necessary because people sharing those characteristics probably would not have received credit or would have received it on less favorable terms than those ordinarily available to other applicants. The CFPB stated it “has determined that the advisory opinion should be rescinded, as it is now outdated and inconsistent with the recent amendments to Regulation B” under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.