Notice2026-11447
Statement on Ability To Repay and Immigration Status
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 8, 2026
Issuing agencies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Abstract
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is issuing this statement to remind creditors of their obligations under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) as implemented by Regulation Z, and consistent with Executive Order 14406, titled "Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System."
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 109 (Monday, June 8, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 109 (Monday, June 8, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34607-34609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-11447]
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CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU
Statement on Ability To Repay and Immigration Status
AGENCY: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
ACTION: Statement.
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SUMMARY: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is
issuing this statement to remind creditors of their obligations under
the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) as implemented by Regulation Z, and
consistent with Executive Order 14406, titled ``Restoring Integrity to
America's Financial System.''
DATES: This statement is applicable on June 8, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Gettler, Paralegal Specialist,
Office of Regulations, at 202-435-7700. If you require this document in
an alternative electronic format, please contact
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#12515442504d5371717761617b707b7e7b666b52717462703c757d64"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3774716775687654545244445e555e5b5e434e775451475519505841">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Ability To Repay Determinations
The Truth in Lending Act \1\ and its implementing Regulation Z \2\
require creditors to assess consumers' ability to repay before offering
mortgages and certain open-end credit products. This statement
emphasizes to creditors that these requirements may obligate
consideration of a consumer's immigration status, especially where
removal from the United States may disrupt the consumer's income.
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\1\ 15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.
\2\ 12 CFR part 1026.
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Under TILA and Regulation Z, before lending to consumers for
dwelling-secured transactions like mortgages, creditors must make ``a
reasonable and good faith determination at or before consummation that
the consumer will have a reasonable ability to repay the loan according
to its terms.'' \3\ Regulation Z sets forth parameters that lenders
must follow to make such ``reasonable and good faith'' determinations
of a consumer's ability to repay. For instance, a creditor must
consider ``the consumer's current or reasonably expected income or
assets.'' \4\ Those creditors relying on a consumer's current income
must in turn consider their ``current employment status.'' \5\ As the
regulations make clear, employment can take a number of forms--
including part time, seasonal, irregular, and the like. A creditor may
rely on any such employment income to determine loan repayment ability,
``so long as the creditor considers those characteristics of the
employment.'' \6\ And for those creditors relying on the consumer's
expected income in addition to or instead of current income, ``the
expectation that income will be available for repayment must be
reasonable and verified with third-party records that provide
reasonably reliable evidence of the consumer's expected income.'' \7\
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\3\ 12 CFR 1026.43(c).
\4\ 12 CFR 1026.43(c)(2)(i).
\5\ 12 CFR 1026.43(c)(2).
\6\ Comment 43(c)(2)(ii)-1.
\7\ Comment 43(c)(2)(i)-3.
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Similarly, credit card issuers must ``consider[ ] the consumer's
ability to make the required minimum periodic payments.'' \8\ That
consideration may be based on information ``provided by the consumer in
connection with the account'' or ``obtained through third parties
(subject to any applicable information-sharing rules).'' \9\ And the
information could include ``any current or reasonably expected income
or assets of the consumer.'' \10\ To ensure card issuers evaluate a
consumer's ability-to-pay, regulations require that they ``establish
and maintain reasonable written policies and procedures to consider the
consumer's ability to make the required minimum payments under the
terms of the account,'' which ``include treating any income . . . to
which the consumer has a reasonable
[[Page 34608]]
expectation of access as the consumer's income.'' \11\
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\8\ 12 CFR 1026.51(a).
\9\ Comment 51(a)(1)(i)-5.
\10\ Comment 51(a)(1)(i)-4.i.
\11\ 12 CFR 1026.51(a)(1)(ii).
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Importantly, Regulation Z makes clear that, in evaluating a
consumer's ability to repay based on expected employment income,
creditors need only consider repayment ability based on what is known
when the decision to extend credit is made or the credit is issued,
depending on the credit type.\12\ Commentary to mortgage-related
regulations explains that ``[a] change in the consumer's circumstances
after consummation . . . that cannot be reasonably anticipated from the
consumer's application or the records used to determine a repayment
ability is not relevant to determining a creditor's compliance with the
rule.'' \13\ Likewise, while card issuers may use statistically sound
and empirically derived models to calculate future income to which the
consumer has a reasonable expectation,\14\ they need not make any
particular predictions about the continued likelihood that a consumer
will earn income in the absence of specific information that would
reasonably allow them to make a determination about the nature of the
income stream in the future.\15\ However, if the information the
creditor considers when the decision to extend credit is made or the
credit is issued indicates that there will be a change in repayment
ability after consummation, a creditor must consider that information
in order to have reasonably assessed a borrower's ability to repay.\16\
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\12\ This includes the consummation of the mortgage loan and, in
the case of credit cards, when a credit card account is opened or
the credit limit is increased.
\13\ Comment 43(c)(1)-2.
\14\ Comment 51(a)(1)(i)-5.iv.
\15\ Comment 51(a)(1)(i)-2.
\16\ Comment 43(c)(1)-2.
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Lending and Immigration Status
In making lending decisions, creditors are permitted to take into
account a wide range of information in order to make a reasonable
assessment of a consumer's ability to repay. Regulation B, which
implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), expressly states
that ``[a] creditor may take the applicant's immigration status into
account,'' \17\ and that a creditor ``may consider the applicant's
immigration status or status as a permanent resident of the United
States, and any additional information that may be necessary to
ascertain the creditor's rights and remedies regarding repayment.''
\18\ Such a consideration may be necessary because an ``applicant's
immigration status and ties to the community (such as employment and
continued residence in the area) could have a bearing on a creditor's
ability to obtain repayment.'' \19\ As the Bureau recently explained,
``[a] credit applicant's immigration or citizenship status may present
underwriting risks that typical assessments of financial capacity alone
will not fully resolve. As Regulation B acknowledges, this is something
creditors may legitimately consider.'' \20\
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\17\ 12 CFR part 1002, supp. I, comment 2(z)-2.
\18\ 12 CFR 1002.6(b)(7).
\19\ 12 CFR part 1002, supp. I, comment 6(b)(7)-1.
``Accordingly, the creditor may consider immigration status and
differentiate, for example, between a noncitizen who is a long-time
resident with permanent resident status and a noncitizen who is
temporarily in this country on a student visa.'' Id.
\20\ CFPB, Withdrawal of Joint Statement on the Equal Credit
Opportunity Act and Noncitizen Borrowers, 91 FR 1138, 1139 (Jan. 12,
2026).
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II. Discussion
As discussed above, continued access to employment can be a key
component of assessing a borrower's income. A borrower's income and
indications of a change to that income are often critical to reasonably
assessing a borrower's ability to repay. The Bureau issues this
guidance to remind creditors that, when determining repayment ability,
creditors relying on an individual's income derived from U.S.-based
employment are permitted--and may, under certain facts and
circumstances, be obligated--to consider information that bears on the
consumer's underlying and continuing ability to earn income--when
residency in the United States is a necessary component of such
employment. Where a change ``cannot be reasonably anticipated'' from
the application and relevant records, the change need not be
considered.\21\
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\21\ Comment 43(c)(1)-2 (applicable in mortgage context); see
also comment 51(a)(1)(i)-2 (credit card issuers).
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The obligation arises if documentation in the consumer's
application or other records indicates that the consumer's repayment
ability will change on account of their immigration status. In such a
circumstance, a creditor must consider that information, just as they
must consider anything else in the application or records at or before
consummation indicating that there will be a change in a consumer's
repayment ability after consummation.\22\ A failure to do so would
overlook key information regarding the consumer's income, and may risk
the creditor failing to reasonably assess the consumer's ability to
repay the credit sought.
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\22\ Comment 43(c)(1)-2.
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In particular, a creditor's awareness of a consumer's immigration
status may implicate a creditor's reasonable expectations about whether
a consumer's income from U.S.-based employment will remain available
for repayment. For example, a creditor may regard a credit applicant
who is neither lawfully present nor permitted to work in the United
States as being subject to removal, in light of the Administration's
stated policy of removing any person unlawfully present in the United
States.\23\ Indications that an individual may not be lawfully present,
and therefore may be at risk of removal, may come from various sources,
including direct inquiry or the consumer's reliance on atypical
identification methods, such as an Individual Taxpayer Identification
Number (ITIN), typically issued to taxpayers to individuals who lack
proof of legal residency.
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\23\ E.O. 14159, ``Protecting the American People Against
Invasion,'' sec. 2 (Jan. 20, 2025), 90 FR 8443 (Jan. 29, 2025)
(declaring the policy of the Administration ``to faithfully execute
the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens''
and ``achieve the total and efficient enforcement of those laws'').
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To the extent a creditor's information regarding the borrower's
immigration status indicates that the borrower may be an unlawfully
present individual and removed from the United States, there is a
danger that removal would render any such borrower unable to earn
income derived from employment that requires physical presence in the
United States. Accordingly, considering whether information regarding
an applicant's immigration status indicates a reasonably expected
change in future income is a matter of sound compliance practice. The
Bureau expects compliance with the law and failure to account for such
a reasonably expected change in income may not comply with a creditor's
obligation to reasonably assess a borrower's ability to repay the loan
or line of credit sought.
Of course, there are a wide variety of lawful immigration statuses
in the United States.\24\ Assessing how each status might bear on a
lender's reasonable expectation that a consumer has the ability to
repay an obligation with U.S.-based employment income is varied, and it
cannot be assumed that consumers with different lawful statuses have
identical abilities to repay. Accordingly, the Bureau cannot, and does
not, provide a comprehensive
[[Page 34609]]
analysis of variations in immigration status and the consequent
reasonable expectations as to a consumer's ability to repay a loan
through expected income from U.S.-based employment. Rather, the Bureau
reminds creditors when future changes in borrower income must be
considered under Regulation Z. Regulation Z enables lenders to make
these judgments by affirming their ability to lawfully consider the
consumer's immigration status, lawful presence, authorization to work,
and other factors that may indicate risk of removal insofar as it bears
on their current or reasonably expected income from U.S.-based
employment.
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\24\ See U.S. Dep't of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland
Security Statistics, Immigration, <a href="https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration">https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration</a>.
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III. Regulatory Matters
As guidance, this statement does not have the force or effect of
law. It has no legally binding effect, including on persons or entities
outside the Federal Government.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has determined that this action
is a ``significant regulatory action'' under E.O. 12866. Accordingly,
OMB has reviewed this action.
In an abundance of caution, pursuant to the Congressional Review
Act,\25\ the Bureau will submit a report containing this statement and
other required information to the United States Senate, the United
States House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the
United States prior to the statement taking effect. OIRA has designated
this statement as not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
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\25\ 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.
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The Bureau has determined that this statement does not contain any
new or substantively revised information collection requirements that
would require approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act.\26\
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\26\ 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Russell Vought,
Acting Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2026-11447 Filed 6-5-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AM-P
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This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.