Acknowledge that ECOA and Regulation B plainly apply to circumstances that take place after an extension of credit has been granted, including a revocation of credit or an unfavorable change in the terms of a credit arrangement.

Provide applicants with required notifications that include a statement of the specific reasons for any adverse action taken.

Disclose an applicant's right to such a statement.

ECOA defines "applicant" to mean "any person who applies to a creditor directly for an extension, renewal, or continuation of credit."

ECOA's core anti-discrimination provision protects applicants from discrimination "with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction."

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) originally issued ECOA implementing Regulation B which defines "applicant" to expressly include not only "any person who applies to a creditor directly for an extension, renewal or continuation of credit" but also "with respect to any creditor ... any person to whom credit is or has been extended by that creditor."

Regulation B defines "credit transaction" to encompass "every aspect of an applicant's dealings with a creditor."

ECOA's disclosure provision requires that creditors give a statement of reasons to "each applicant" against whom they take "adverse action" which is defined as a "revocation of credit" as well as a "change in the terms of an existing credit arrangement" - actions that can be taken only with respect to existing borrowers.

Nine separate agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the FRB previously published a statement, Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending, confirming their views that ECOA prohibits discrimination in the treatment of existing borrowers. The same view is reflected in the Interagency Fair Lending Examination Procedures, the manual used by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and other financial regulators to conduct fair lending compliance examinations of financial institutions.

The only court of appeals to address the issue of the proper reading of the term "applicant," agreed that the statute applied beyond applicants to existing borrowers, Kinnell v. Convenient Loan Co, 77 F.3d 492 (10th Cir. 1996) (unpublished table decision). The district court in Powell v. Pentagon Fed. Credit Union, No. 10-cv-785, (N.D. Ill. Sept. 17, 2010), reached the same conclusion. The issue is currently pending in a Seventh Circuit case brought against a bank by a private litigant. In partnership with the DOJ, the FRB and the FTC, the CFPB filed an amicus brief in Fralish v. Bank of America, N.A., No. 21-2846 (7th Cir.) urging the court adopt its position that the ECOA and Regulation B protect applicants throughout the lifecycle of an extension of credit and not simply during the application stage.