Equal Credit Opportunity

On October 28, 1974, President Ford signed enrolled bill H.R. 11221, “Depository Institutions and Consumer Financial Protection.” Title V of this bill, which became known as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, “prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction.” Signing this bill allowed all women the right to have a credit card in their own name, as opposed to a card in their husband’s name.

In Savings & Loan News in January 1974, cases cited as discriminatory practice leading up to these amendments included: 

Betty Ford White House Papers, 1973-1977, Box 1, “9/14/74 – National Council of Negro Women.”
NAID: 4515653

Upon signing the bill, the White House Press Office released this statement:

In their recommendation to President Ford to sign the bill, Assistant Attorney General W. Vincent Rakestraw stated that “while the Department of Justice supports this provision [to prohibit on the basis of sex or marital status], we would have preferred that it also include a prohibition against credit discrimination on the basis of race1.” Less than two years later, President Ford would sign H.R. 6516, “The Equal Credit Opportunity Bill,” that would do just that.

White House Press Releases, Box 23.
NAID: 7343188
  1. White House Records Office: Legislation Case Files, Box 12, “10/28/74 HR11221 Depository Institutions and Consumer Financial Protection (1).” ↩︎

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