Seven Agencies Rescind 2022 Guidance Blessing Special Purpose Credit Programs
On August 25, 2026, seven federal agencies jointly rescinded the 2022 "Interagency Statement on Special Purpose Credit Programs Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B." The agencies involved were the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). We flagged the underlying regulatory changes in an earlier post (see our post on the Regulation B amendments); this rescission is the next domino to fall.
What Is an SPCP?
A special purpose credit program (SPCP) lets a creditor extend credit to a defined class of economically disadvantaged applicants without running afoul of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's (ECOA) general bar on considering characteristics like race, color, national origin, or sex. Done properly, an SPCP is a statutory exception to anti-discrimination law, not a violation of it. ECOA is implemented through Regulation B, issued by the CFPB.
What the 2022 Statement Said
The Interagency Statement was designed to encourage lenders to adopt SPCPs by assuring them the programs were legally permissible. The 2022 guidance did the following:
Confirmed that SPCPs meeting ECOA's requirements do not violate the statute or Regulation B.
Referenced an earlier version of Regulation B that permitted race, color, national origin, or sex-based eligibility criteria under certain conditions.
Gave a parallel assurance that compliant SPCPs would not run afoul of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), based on HUD guidance that has since been withdrawn.
What the Rescission Does
The agencies pulled the statement because it now rests on legal ground that no longer exists. Specifically:
Regulation B was amended earlier in 2026 and no longer permits the race, color, national origin, or sex-based eligibility criteria the 2022 Statement relied on.
The HUD guidance underlying the FHA assurance was withdrawn effective September 2025, and a related CFPB advisory opinion was withdrawn in June 2026.
The agencies expressly state that creditors "may not discriminate against borrowers based on prohibited characteristics" and should not rely on the 2022 Statement, or other related guidance, going forward.
The rescission is effective immediately. It does not create new substantive obligations beyond what the amended Regulation B already requires, but it does eliminate the safe-harbor-style comfort the 2022 Statement offered.
What This Means for Mortgage Lenders
If your institution offers or is developing an SPCP, treat this as confirmation, not new news, that the old playbook is gone. In practice:
Avoid citing the 2022 Statement in any SPCP plan, fair lending training, or compliance memo going forward.
If your SPCP still uses race, color, national origin, or sex as eligibility criteria, it needs to be redesigned or wound down under the amended Regulation B, as we discussed previously.
Revisit any FHA analysis supporting your SPCP; the HUD guidance it likely leaned on is no longer available to support it.
Confirm marketing materials and internal talking points about your SPCP don't reference or imply reliance on the rescinded statement.
Loop in compliance and legal before your next SPCP-related loan program launch or annual plan renewal, since examiners are likely to ask about this rescission specifically.
Bottom Line
Nothing here changes the substantive standard your SPCP needs to meet. That ship sailed when the amended Regulation B took effect. What the rescission does is remove the last piece of paper lenders might have pointed to for comfort. If your SPCP files still cite the 2022 Statement, pull it and cite the current rule instead.
For more information, contact troy@garrishorn.com.