Equal Credit Opportunity: 

Understanding Your Rights Under the Law

People use credit to pay for education or a house, 

a remodeling job or a car, or 

to finance a loan to keep their 

business operating.

The Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC), the 

nation’s consumer protection 

agency, enforces the Equal 

Credit Opportunity Act 

(ECOA), which prohibits credit 

discrimination on the basis of 

race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital 

status, age, or because you get public assistance. 

Creditors may ask you for most of this information 

in certain situations, but they may not use it when 

deciding whether to give you credit or when setting 

the terms of your credit. Not everyone who applies 

for credit gets it or gets the same terms: Factors 

like income, expenses, debts, and credit history are 

among the considerations lenders use to determine 

your creditworthiness.

The law provides protections when you deal with 

any organizations or people who regularly extend 

credit, including banks, small loan and finance 

companies, retail and department stores, credit card 

companies, and credit unions. 

Everyone who participates in 

the decision to grant credit 

or in setting the terms of 

that credit, including real 

estate brokers who arrange 

financing, must comply with 

the ECOA. 

Here’s a brief summary 

of the basic provisions of the 

ECOA. 

I. When You Apply For Credit, 

Creditors May Not...

n Discourage you from applying or reject your 

application because of your race, color, religion, 

national origin, sex, marital status, age, or 

because you receive public assistance.

n Consider your race, sex, or national origin, 

although you may be asked to disclose this 

information if you want to. It helps federal 

agencies enforce anti-discrimination laws. A 

creditor may consider your immigration status 

and whether you have the right to stay in the 

country long enough to repay the debt. 

May 2009
FTC Facts For Consumers 2

n Impose different terms or conditions, like a 

higher interest rate or higher fees, on a loan 

based on your race, color, religion, national 

origin, sex, marital status, age, or because you 

receive public assistance.

n Ask if you’re widowed or divorced. A creditor 

may use only the terms: married, unmarried, or 

separated. 

n Ask about your marital status if you’re applying 

for a separate, unsecured account. A creditor 

may ask you to provide this information if you 

live in “community property” states: Arizona, 

California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New 

Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. A 

creditor in any state may ask for this information 

if you apply for a joint account or one secured 

by property. 

n Ask for information about your spouse, except:

— if your spouse is applying with you; 

— if your spouse will be allowed to use the 

account; 

— if you are relying on your spouse’s income or 

on alimony or child support income from a 

former spouse; 

— if you live in a community property state. 

n Ask about your plans for having or raising 

children, but they can ask questions about 

expenses related to your dependents. 

n Ask if you get alimony, child support, or separate 

maintenance payments, unless they tell you first 

that you don’t have to provide this information 

if you aren’t relying on these payments to get 

credit. A creditor may ask if you have to pay 

alimony, child support, or separate maintenance 

payments. 

II. When Deciding To Grant 

You Credit Or When Setting 

The Terms Of Credit, 

Creditors May Not...

n Consider your race, color, religion, national 

origin, sex, marital status or whether you get 

public assistance. 

n Consider your age, unless: 

— you’re too young to sign contracts, generally 

under 18; 

— you’re at least 62, and the creditor will favor 

you because of your age; 

— it’s used to determine the meaning of other 

factors important to creditworthiness. For 

example, a creditor could use your age to 

determine if your income might drop because 

you’re about to retire; 

— it’s used in a valid credit scoring system 

that favors applicants 62 and older. A credit 

scoring system assigns points to answers you 

give on credit applications. For example, 

your length of employment might be scored 

differently depending on your age. 

n Consider whether you have a telephone account 

in your name. A creditor may consider whether 

you have a phone. 

n Consider the racial composition of the 

neighborhood where you want to buy, refinance 

or improve a house with money you are 

borrowing. 

III. When Evaluating Your 

Income, Creditors May Not...

n Refuse to consider reliable public assistance 

income the same way as other income. 

n Discount income because of your sex or marital 

status. For example, a creditor cannot count a 
FTC Facts For Consumers 3

man’s salary at 100 percent and a woman’s at 75 

percent. A creditor may not assume a woman 

of childbearing age will stop working to raise 

children. 

n Discount or refuse to consider income because 

it comes from part-time employment, Social 

Security, pensions, or annuities. 

n Refuse to consider reliable alimony, child 

support, or separate maintenance payments. A 

creditor may ask you for proof that you receive 

this income consistently. 

IV. You Also Have The Right 

To...

n Have credit in your birth name (Mary Smith), 

your first and your spouse’s last name (Mary 

Jones), or your first name and a combined last 

name (Mary Smith Jones). 

n Get credit without a cosigner, if you meet the 

creditor’s standards. 

n Have a cosigner other than your spouse, if one is 

necessary. 

n Keep your own accounts after you change your 

name, marital status, reach a certain age, or 

retire, unless the creditor has evidence that you’re 

not willing or able to pay. 

n Know whether your application was accepted 

or rejected within 30 days of filing a complete 

application.

n Know why your application was rejected. The 

creditor must tell you the specific reason for the 

rejection or that you are entitled to learn the 

reason if you ask within 60 days. An acceptable 

reason might be: “your income was too low” or 

“you haven’t been employed long enough.” An 

unacceptable reason might be “you didn’t meet 

our minimum standards.” That information isn’t 

specific enough.

n Learn the specific reason you were offered less 

favorable terms than you applied for, but only if 

you reject these terms. For example, if the lender 

offers you a smaller loan or a higher interest rate, 

and you don’t accept the offer, you have the right 

to know why those terms were offered. 

n Find out why your account was closed or 

why the terms of the account were made less 

favorable, unless the account was inactive or you 

failed to make payments as agreed. 

V. A Special Note To Women

A good credit history — a record of your bill 

payments — often is necessary to get credit. This 

can hurt many married, separated, divorced, and 

widowed women. Typically, there are two reasons 

women don’t have credit histories in their own 

names: either they lost their credit histories when 

they married and changed their names, or creditors 

reported accounts shared by married couples in the 

husband’s name only.

If you’re married, separated, divorced, or 

widowed, contact your local credit reporting 

companies to make sure all relevant bill payment 

information is in a file under your own name. Your 

credit report includes information on where you 

live, how you pay your bills, and whether you’ve 

been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy. National 

credit reporting companies sell the information in 

your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and 

other businesses that, in turn, use it to evaluate your 

applications for credit, insurance, employment, or 

renting a home. 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires 

each of the three nationwide credit reporting 
FTC Facts For Consumers 4

companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — 

to give you a free copy of your credit report, at your 

request, once every 12 months. To order your report, 

visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, 

or complete the Annual Credit Report Request 

Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request 

Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. 

The form is on the back of this brochure; or you can 

print it from ftc.gov/credit.

VI. If You Suspect a Creditor 

has Discriminated Against 

You, Take Action.

n Complain to the creditor. Sometimes you 

can persuade the creditor to reconsider your 

application. 

n Check with your state Attorney General’s office 

(www.naag.org) to see if the creditor violated 

state equal credit opportunity laws.

n Consider suing the creditor in federal district 

court. If you win, you can recover your actual 

damages and be awarded punitive damages if 

the court finds that the creditor’s conduct was 

willful. You also may recover reasonable lawyers’ 

fees and court costs. Or you might consider 

finding others with the same claim, and getting 

together to file a class action suit. An attorney 

can advise you on how to proceed. 

n Report violations to the appropriate government 

agency. If you’ve been denied credit, the creditor 

must give you the name and address of the 

agency to contact. 

A number of federal agencies share enforcement 

responsibility for the ECOA. Determining which 

agency to contact depends on the type of financial 

institution you dealt with.

For retail and department stores; mortgage, 

small loan and consumer finance companies; 

oil companies; public utilities; state credit 

unions; government lending programs; or 

travel and expense credit card companies are 

involved, contact:

Federal Trade Commission 

Consumer Response Center 

Washington, DC 20580 

1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)

TDD: 1-866-653-4261 

www.ftc.gov

The FTC generally does not intervene in 

individual disputes, but the information you 

provide may indicate a pattern of violations that 

the Commission would investigate. 

For nationally-charted banks (National or 

N.A. will be part of the name): 

Comptroller of the Currency 

Consumer Assistance Group

1301 McKinney Street

Houston, TX 77010-9050

1-800-613-6743

www.helpwithmybank.gov

For state-chartered banks insured by the 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but 

not members of the Federal Reserve System: 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 

Consumer Response Center

2345 Grand Boulevard

Suite 100

Kansas City, MO 64108

1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342)

www.fdic.gov
5 FTC Facts For Consumers

For The Consumer Federal Trade Commission

ftc.gov 1-877-ftc-help

Federal Trade Commission

Bureau of Consumer Protection

Division of Consumer and Business Education

For federally-chartered or federally-insured 

savings and loans: 

Office of Thrift Supervision 

Consumer Affairs

1700 G Street NW 

Washington, DC 20552 

1-800-842-6929; TTY: 800-877-8339

www.ots.treas.gov

For federally-chartered credit unions: 

National Credit Union Administration 

1775 Duke Street

Suite 4206

Alexandria, VA 22314-3437

1-800-755-1030

www.ncua.gov

For state member banks of the Federal Reserve 

System: 

Federal Reserve Consumer Help Center 

P.O. Box 1200

Minneapolis, MN 55480

1-888-851-1920; TDD: 877-766-8533

www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov

For discrimination complaints against all 

kinds of creditors: 

Department of Justice 

Civil Rights Division 

Washington, DC 20530

www.usdoj.gov/crt 

Still Not Sure Who to Contact?

If you can’t figure out which federal agency has 

responsibility for the financial institution you dealt 

with, visit www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov or 

call 1-888-851-1920.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent 

fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices 

in the marketplace and to provide information 

to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. 

To file a complaint or to get free information on 

consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 

1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 

1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters consumer 

complaints into the Consumer Sentinel Network, 

a secure online database and investigative tool used 

by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement 

agencies in the U.S. and abroad. 
following information is required to process your request.

If additional information is needed to process your request, the consumer credit

reporting company will contact you by mail.

Your request will be processed within 15 days of receipt and then mailed to you.

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You have the right to get a free copy of your credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months, from each of

the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

For instant access to your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.

For more information on obtaining your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Use this form if you prefer to write to request your credit report from any, or all, of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. The

Omission of any information may delay your request.

Annual Credit Report Request Form

Once complete, fold (do not staple or tape), place into a #10 envelope, affix required postage and mail to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service P.O. Box 105281 Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.