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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 129 / Friday, July 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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you submit your comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email to FHFA at RegComments@fhfa.gov to ensure timely receipt by FHFA. Include the following information in the subject line of your submission: Policy Statement;
Comment Request: 2021N7.
Hand Delivered/Courier: The hand delivery address is: Clinton Jones, General Counsel, Attention: Policy Statement; Comment Request: 2021N
7, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. Deliver the package at the Seventh Street entrance Guard Desk, First Floor, on business days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or Other Mail Service:
The mailing address for comments is:
Clinton Jones, General Counsel, Attention: Policy Statement; Comment Request: 2021N7, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400
Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC
20219. Please note that all mail sent to FHFA via U.S. Mail is routed through a national irradiation facility, a process that may delay delivery by approximately two weeks. For any timesensitive correspondence, please plan accordingly.
We will post all public comments we receive without change, including any personal information you provide, such as your name and address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA website at http www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will be available for examination by the public through the electronic comment docket also located on the FHFA website.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Purpose FHFA is the primary regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the Enterprises and the Federal Home Loan Banks the Banks collectively, the regulated entities. FHFA is issuing this Policy Statement to communicate FHFAs general position on monitoring and information gathering, supervisory examinations, and administrative enforcement related to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ECOA, 15 U.S.C.
1691 et seq., the Fair Housing Act, 42
U.S.C. 3601 et seq., and section 4545 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act Safety and Soundness Act, 12 U.S.C.
4501 et seq. collectively, with implementing regulations and other sources, fair lending laws. This Policy Statement is intended to be consistent with those statutes and their implementing regulations and to
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provide guidance to FHFAs regulated entities seeking to comply with them. It describes sources of statutory authority for actions that may be taken by FHFA
and it articulates FHFAs policies for supervisory oversight and enforcement of fair lending matters. FHFA is also issuing this Policy Statement to provide a foundation for possible future interpretations and rulemakings by the agency for its regulated entities.1
II. Policy Statement Fair Lending Policy Statement FHFA is committed to ensuring that its regulated entities operate consistently with the public interest and with sufficient overall risk management by providing fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit and housing. Fair lending is central to the principles under which the U.S.
housing finance system operates and is a requirement of law. FHFA will never tolerate illegal discrimination by the regulated entities. FHFA will engage in comprehensive fair lending oversight of its regulated entities and adopts the following high-level policies to guide its fair lending monitoring, supervision, and enforcement. FHFA is committed to interagency engagement, coordination, and collaboration in fair lending.
Legal Overview While many Federal statutes seek to promote fair lending, FHFAs policy statement focuses on ECOA, the Fair Housing Act, and the fair lending provisions of the Safety and Soundness Act as they apply to the regulated entities activities. This policy statement does not create or confer any substantive or procedural rights which could be enforceable in any administrative or civil proceeding.
1 As a historical note, in 1994, a number of Federal agencies published a Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending 1994 Statement which, in part, described how Federal agencies use their authorities to oversee fair lending compliance. See 59 FR 18266 April 15, 1994. FHFA did not exist at the time and was not a signatory. In 2008, Congress abolished the former Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and the Federal Housing Finance Board, which had been parties to the 1994 Statement. In their place, Congress established FHFA with authorities that, in contrast to its predecessor agencies, include overseeing Enterprise and Bank compliance with applicable law. 12 U.S.C. 4511b FHFA shall have general regulatory authority over each regulated entity . . .
and shall exercise such general regulatory authority . . . to ensure that the purposes of this Act, the authorizing statutes, and any other applicable law are carried out. Given the importance of fair lending compliance, FHFA is publishing this FHFA
Policy Statement on Fair Lending to implement its authorities and articulate agency activities in relevant areas including monitoring, examination, enforcement, and coordination to oversee regulated entity fair lending compliance.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus CFPB Regulation B, 12 CFR
part 1002, along with Official Interpretations in Supplement I to 12
CFR part 1002, implements ECOA.2 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments HUD regulations at 24
CFR part 100 implement the Fair Housing Act. Together, these statutes and regulations prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age provided the applicant has the capacity to contract, receipt of income derived from any public assistance program, exercise, in good faith, of any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, familial status defined by 42
U.S.C. 3602k of the Fair Housing Act as children under the age of 18 living with a parent or legal custodian, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under 18, and disability.3
The Enterprises are also subject to section 4545 of the Safety and Soundness Act, which requires HUD, by regulation, to prohibit the Enterprises from discriminating in the purchase of mortgages on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, age, or national origin, including any consideration of the age or location of the dwelling or the age of the neighborhood or census tract where the dwelling is located in a manner that has a discriminatory effect.4
FHFA also recognizes that there are a number of applicable and relevant sources of fair lending law and guidance, including judicial decisions, administrative interpretations and guidance, and administrative actions.
Fair Lending Oversight Considerations FHFA has broad statutory authority to supervise the regulated entities, including authority to monitor and gather information, conduct supervisory examinations, and enforce compliance with law where appropriate. FHFA
monitors regulated entities for fair lending risk, conducts supervisory examinations, and, when necessary, 2 The Federal Reserve Board of Governors also implements ECOA through a regulation covering auto dealers.
3 The Fair Housing Act uses the term handicap instead of disability. This document uses the term disability, which is more generally accepted. See Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice on Accessibility Design and Construction Requirements for Covered Multifamily Dwellings under the Fair Housing Act, April 30, 2013, available at https www.hud.gov/
sites/documents/JOINTSTATEMENT.PDF citing Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624, 631 1998, to say that both terms have the same legal meaning.
4 12 U.S.C. 4545.

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