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#16267 - 04/25/02 06:27 PM ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
CalifDreamin Offline
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CalifDreamin
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Far from Calif
Does anyone have any "newer" information regarding the fact that you cannot evaluate applications from married or unmarried joint applicants differently? What I have so far is:

Commentary to Reg. B 202.6(b)(1)
Case: Markham v. Colonial Mortgage Service Co. (Aug 1979)
OCC Bulletin 94-52

Thank you for any input you may have!
Last edited by BDyess; 04/25/02 06:27 PM.
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General Discussion
#16268 - 04/25/02 06:36 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
JSD Offline
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I seem to recall a few years ago that there was a case with Ford Motor Co. Ford agreed to pay lots of $$$ to consumers in order to settle the case. They were charged with discriminating against applicants that were not married and buying a car jointly. They did not combine the income for all applicants - only married applicants.

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#16269 - 04/25/02 06:50 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
CalifDreamin Offline
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Far from Calif
Thanks Janet. I'll look for it.
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#16270 - 04/25/02 09:32 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
Andy_Z Offline
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Here are some leads. And you run a real risk separating these incomes.

Here are excerpts from the FTC site.
Franklin Acceptance Corporation "The complaint alleged that Franklin discriminated against applicants on the basis of marital status by failing to aggregate the incomes of unmarried co-applicants while aggregating the income of married co-applicants... Under the consent decree, defendants agreed to pay a civil penalty of $800,000 and to the entry of a permanent injunction."

Ford Motor Credit "The complaint alleged that the company failed to aggregate the incomes of unmarried co-applicants while aggregating the income of married co-applicants with the result that unmarried co-applicants often paid more for credit. Under the consent decree, defendants agreed to pay $650,000 to a consumer redress program and to the entry of a permanent injunction."
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#16271 - 04/25/02 09:51 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
CalifDreamin Offline
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CalifDreamin
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Thanks Andy! Have you seen anything related to running credit reports? (i.e. running credit reports on the primary only if they are married, but on both applicants if they are unmarried?)
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#16272 - 04/25/02 10:07 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
Andy_Z Offline
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I haven't seen anything, but that could lead to more denials when they are unmarried as one or the other may have bad credit, causing a denial. Also, the one who is not accesed may have good credit which could either cause a counteroffer or make up for negative entries on the others.

I'd say this is a violation as the applications are processed differently based on marital status. The same issues.
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AndyZ CRCM
My opinions are not necessarily my employers.
R+R-R=R+R
Rules and Regs minus Relationships equals Resentment and Rebellion. John Maxwell

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#16273 - 04/25/02 10:08 PM Re: ECOA - married and unmarried applicants
CalifDreamin Offline
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CalifDreamin
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,262
Far from Calif
My thoughts exactly! Thank you again!
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