On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded its 2020 advisory opinion “Equal Credit Opportunity (Regulation B); Special Purpose Credit Program,” which addressed regulatory uncertainty regarding the application of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s Regulation B to certain aspects of special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) “designed by for-profit organizations to meet special social needs.” The advisory opinion had clarified the content a for-profit organization must include in a written plan to establish and administer an SPCP, as well as the type of research and data that may inform its determination that an SPCP is needed to benefit a certain class of persons.
The rescission is consistent with the CFPB’s final rule published in April 2026, which implements revisions to Regulation B, including revising certain standards for SPCPs. Pursuant to the final rule, a for-profit SPCP may no longer use race, color, national origin or sex (or any combination of these characteristics) as eligibility criteria to participate in the program. The final rule also requires written plans to include evidence of the need for the program and an explanation of why the targeted class would not receive such credit absent the program. Finally, it adds a requirement that if a for-profit SPCP uses common characteristics beyond race, color, national origin or sex, it must provide evidence for each individual participant that, absent the program, the participant would not receive the credit as a result of those specific characteristics. The CFPB noted that it rescinded the 2020 advisory opinion “as it is now outdated and inconsistent with the[se] recent amendments to Regulation B.”