10-1549 Estate of Davis v. Wells Fargo Bank

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Civil Rights
ECOA

Where a lender offered to modify the terms of the existing loan within the statute of limitations, the homeowner’s claim under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act should not have been dismissed.

“Mrs. Davis did not apply for credit from the defendants during the ECOA’s statute of limitations, nor was there a change to the terms of her existing loan. However, Mrs. Davis alleged that on September 28, 2005, the defendants offered to modify the terms of her loan, and that the terms under which that offer was made were racially discriminatory. In light of the broad regulatory definitions, we find that Mrs. Davis, as the recipient of the defendants’ offer to modify her loan, ‘received an extension of credit’ and thus became an ‘applicant’ under 12 C.F.R. § 202.2(e). See also 12 C.F.R. § 202.2(q) (defining ‘extend credit and extension of credit’ to include ‘the refinancing or other renewal of credit.’).”

“Remand of Mrs. Davis’s ECOA claim, however, would be fruitless. Identical allegations of racial discrimination supported Mrs. Davis’s ECOA claim and her FHA claim. The FHA claim survived the defendants’ motion to dismiss but was the target of their motion for summary judgment. As we detail below, when Mrs. Davis was required to come forward with evidence showing race discrimination, she failed to do so. Mrs. Davis’s ECOA claim would suffer the same fate. We affirm the judgment of the district court on this claim.”

Affirmed.

10-1549 Estate of Davis v. Wells Fargo Bank

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Aspen, J., Hamilton, J.

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