Federal Trade Commission | consumer.ftc.gov

Your Equal Credit 

Opportunity Rights

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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.
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When You Apply For Credit, 

Creditors May Not...

● 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. 

● 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. 

● 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. 

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

may use only the terms: married, unmarried, or 

separated. 

● 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. 
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● 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. 

● Ask about your plans for having or raising 

children, but they can ask questions about 

expenses related to your dependents. 

● 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. 
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When Deciding To Grant You Credit Or 

When Setting The Terms Of Credit, 

Creditors May Not...

● Consider your race, color, religion, national 

origin, sex, marital status or whether you get 

public assistance. 

● 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. 

● Consider whether you have a telephone account 

in your name. A creditor may consider whether 

you have a phone. 

● Consider the racial composition of the 

neighborhood where you want to buy, refinance 

or improve a house with money you are 

borrowing. 
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When Evaluating Your Income, 

Creditors May Not...

● Refuse to consider reliable public assistance 

income the same way as other income. 

● Discount income because of your sex or marital 

status. For example, a creditor cannot count a 

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. 

● Discount or refuse to consider income because 

it comes from part-time employment, Social 

Security, pensions, or annuities. 

● Refuse to consider reliable alimony, child 

support, or separate maintenance payments. A 

creditor may ask you for proof that you receive 

this income consistently. 

You Also Have The Right To...

● 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). 

● Get credit without a cosigner, if you meet the 

creditor’s standards. 

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

necessary. 
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● 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. 

● Know whether your application was accepted 

or rejected within 30 days of filing a complete 

application. 

● 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. 

● 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. 

● 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. 
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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 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 or call 1-877-322-8228.
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If You Suspect a Creditor has 

Discriminated Against You, Take Action

● Complain to the creditor. Sometimes you 

can persuade the creditor to reconsider your 

application. 

● Check with your state Attorney General’s office 

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

equal credit opportunity laws. 

● 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. 

● 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. 
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A number of federal agencies, including the FTC, 

share enforcement responsibility for the ECOA. 

Visit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 

(consumerfinance.gov) or HelpWithMyBank.gov, a 

site maintained by the Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, for answers to frequently-asked questions 

on topics like bank accounts, deposit insurance, credit 

cards, consumer loans, insurance, mortgages, identity 

theft, and safe deposit boxes, and for other information 

about federal agencies that have responsibility for 

financial institutions.

For More Information

The FTC works 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 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. 

Watch a video, How to File a Complaint, at 

consumer.ftc.gov/media to learn more. 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. 
Federal Trade Commission

consumer.ftc.gov

January 2013