The Act provides two major avenues of enforcement by the Department. ![]() The Fair Housing Act, which is found in Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, is designed to ensure freedom from discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing, and other related activities. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides for the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and civil protections in areas such as housing and credit for military personnel while they are on active duty. Section 2 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) prohibits local governments from significantly burdening the exercise of religion or discriminating against religious institutions in their land use and zoning decisions. Title III prohibits the denial of equal protection rights in public facilities. Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin and religion in places of public accommodation, which are defined to include hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, and places of entertainment. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibits discrimination in credit transactions on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract), because all or a part of the applicant's income is derived from a public assistance program, or because the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The Fair Housing Act provides freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap and familial status in connection with the sale, rental, and financing of housing and other related activities. Professor Matheson believes that these changes will help create a statutory and regulatory framework that will promote better compliance by creditors with the Act's provisions and enhance enforcement efforts by both private parties and public agencies.Fair Housing and Equal Credit Opportunity Detailed statistical information must be kept by credit-granting institutions and made available to private litigants and government enforcement agencies to assist them in identifying and eliminating credit discrimination. ![]() The definition of "adverse action" in the regulations should be amended to acknowledge that credit granted on different terms than those requested by an applicant may indicate illegal discrimination. The Act should be amended to allow for a minimum damage recovery for successful plaintiffs. Professor Matheson believes that courts, government enforcement agencies, and consumers should focus on substantive (rather than procedural) violations of the Act and its implementing regulations. ![]() Few private lawsuits have been brought under the Act, however, and public enforcement efforts have neither checked credit discrimination nor halted perpetuation of prior discrimination. Congress intended that the Act would be enforced through both private litigation and public compliance programs. The Federal Reserve Board promulgated regulations to further these statutory goals. ![]() The Equal Credit Opportunity Act was enacted in 1974 as (1) a consumer protection statute designed to provide accurate information to and about consumers involved in credit transactions, and (2) an antidiscrimination statute designed to shield protected classes of consumers from discrimination in the granting of credit.
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