Civil and Human Rights Coalition Opposes Auto Lending Discrimination Bill

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in advance of a House vote on H.R. 1737, the Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act, which would make it harder for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to enforce laws against discrimination in auto lending.  Yesterday, The Leadership Conference joined 22 other civil rights groups to ask the House to reject this bill:

“Discrimination undermines the civil rights of all Americans, whether in voting, education, or employment. Lending discrimination is no different. When lenders redlined Black residents out of homeownership or gouged them on mortgages, the nation passed laws like the Fair Housing Act. But the vestiges of lending discrimination remain alive and well in the auto industry. We cannot allow auto lenders to charge Black borrowers more than Whites simply because of their skin color. A vote in support of this bill is a vote to ignore lending discrimination.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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