Credit Equality Comes to Women: An Analysis of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is an effort to eliminate credit discrimination based on sex or marital status. Because it specifically prohibits virtually all discriminatory creditor practices, the ECOA essentially eliminates the problems that prompted its enactment. However, the ECOA does more than merely protect the rights of women: It also requires creditors to educate women concerning those rights. Thus, creditors must be certain that any differentiations they make among consumers regarding credit standing "are based on sound, provable experience or actuarial statistics." The denial of credit to a woman who, by all objective criteria, is as qualified as a man will no longer be tolerated under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.