The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) is a federal law that promotes fairness and prohibits discrimination in credit transactions. Enacted in 1974, implemented by Regulation B, ...

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, currently enforced by six different federal agencies, isn’t perfect. But it does provide a framework to ensure more fairness in consumer lending.

50 years ago, it was legal to deny a woman credit without a male co-signer. The 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act made it illegal to discriminate against applicants based on sex or marital status.

It was 1974, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act had been just signed by President Gerald Ford. That might seem like a long time ago, but ask your grandmother, even your mother, and she can tell ...

Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) was signed into law 50 years ago today, banks required women to have a male cosigner—typically a husband or father—on applications for credit ...

How the Equal Credit Opportunity Act Transformed Women’s Economic Power. Learn about Emily Card, Jeanne Hubbard, Stephanie Lipscomb, and Rosemary Reed—four women whose stories about financial ...

Part of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act allowed women to take out a loan or obtain their own credit cards independent of a husband. More for You. Where is Super Bowl 2026, 2027?

Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits lenders from using ascribed characteristics of a borrower, such as their age, gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, ...

That changed on Oct. 28, 1974, when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was signed into law, giving women the same access to credit as men, regardless of marital status.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act bans discrimination in credit transactions. Learn your rights under the ECOA and how to report a violation.

October marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a landmark legislation that granted women the right to obtain credit without requiring a husband or male relative's signature.