The Mortgage Firm — 2025
$1.75 million for a loan subsidy program concerning allegations in the Miami area.
Read the DOJ announcementWhy proactive testing matters
Customer treatment risk often begins before the application.
Institutions need visibility into the conversations, assistance, and follow-up that may never appear in HMDA data or a completed loan file.
Find issues while you still control the response.
A proactive program can surface training gaps, inconsistent practices, weak controls, or isolated conduct before those concerns become larger regulatory, legal, or reputational problems.
- Strengthen oversight of customer-facing practices.
- Support targeted coaching, training, and remediation.
- Test whether written expectations are reflected in actual interactions.
- Demonstrate a serious commitment to fair and consistent treatment.
Regulation B
Voluntary self-testing and self-correction.
Regulation B encourages creditors to test their own compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Under 12 CFR § 1002.15, the report, results, and newly created information from a qualifying voluntary self-test may receive a limited privilege when the rule's requirements are met.
A qualifying self-test must be designed and used specifically to assess ECOA or Regulation B compliance and generate information that cannot be obtained from existing loan or application records. The CFPB's official interpretation identifies fictitious-applicant testing and surveys of mortgage applicants as possible methods. If a self-test shows that a violation more likely than not occurred, the creditor must take appropriate corrective action to maintain the privilege.
This protection is conditional. It does not make ordinary loan records privileged, prevent every disclosure, or replace attorney-client privilege. Institutions should plan the purpose, scope, documentation, and response to testing with their compliance leadership and legal counsel.
Selected fair lending resolutions
The cost of unresolved concerns.
Fair lending resolutions can require loan subsidy programs, outreach, changes to staffing and training, and ongoing review. These DOJ announcements illustrate commitments made to resolve redlining allegations; the amounts below are not all fines.
Fairway Independent Mortgage — 2024
$8 million in loan subsidy and supporting programs, plus a separate $1.9 million CFPB civil penalty, concerning allegations in the Birmingham area.
Read the DOJ announcementOceanFirst Bank — 2024
More than $15 million in loan subsidy, outreach, education, and community commitments concerning allegations in New Jersey.
Read the DOJ announcementFirst National Bank of Pennsylvania — 2024
$13.5 million in loan subsidy and related commitments concerning allegations in Charlotte and Winston-Salem.
Read the DOJ announcementCity National Bank — 2023
More than $31 million in loan subsidy and related commitments concerning allegations in Los Angeles County.
Read the DOJ case and consent orderEach matter involved different facts and remedies. Testing does not guarantee that an institution will avoid an investigation or receive a particular regulatory outcome. It helps leaders identify concerns, examine their causes, and act on what they learn.
A complement—not a replacement
Use testing alongside the rest of your compliance program.
The strongest insight comes from considering testing results with policies, training, complaints, monitoring, audits, statistical analysis, loan-file review, and advice from qualified counsel.
Fair Lending Testers
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