New York Regulator Finds No Fair Lending Violations on Apple Card Applications
March 23 2021 - 5:14PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
The New York State Department of Financial Services said it
found no evidence of discrimination in applications for a credit
card launched by Apple Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. but
stressed the need to update credit-scoring models and
antidiscrimination laws on credit access.
"While we found no fair-lending violations, our inquiry stands
as a reminder of disparities in access to credit that continue
nearly 50 years after the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity
Act," said Linda Lacewell, superintendent of financial
services.
The department's investigation, which followed public scrutiny
after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said his wife had received
significantly different credit-card terms than his, reviewed
underwriting data for about 400,000 Apple Card applications in the
state of New York, along with a series of interviews and records
and written responses from Goldman Sachs Bank and Apple.
The department said the investigation found that for all
consumers who reported concerns about their Apple Card credit
"evidence showed that those decisions were explainable, lawful, and
consistent with the Bank's credit policy."
However, the department said, deficiencies in customer service
and a perceived lack of transparency undermined consumer trust in
fair credit decisions.
The department in a report released Tuesday said that Goldman
Sachs and Apple had since taken steps to improve transparency and
help denied applicants improve their credit. The companies, it
said, had also modified a policy that previously required approved
applicants to wait six months before appealing credit terms, such
as credit limits and annual percentage rates.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2021 16:59 ET (20:59 GMT)
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