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It is against federal law for a lender to discriminate against a borrower because of non-financial personal characteristics such as race, color, gender, marital status, national origin, nor can they advertise their services in any way that would discourage any person from applying.

By law, lenders cannot:

• Ask for sex, race, color, religion, or national origin of applicant.
• Discount income because of sex or marital status.
• Assume that a woman will stop working to raise children.
• Discount or refuse to consider income because it comes from part-time work, pension, annuity, or retirement benefits.
• Ask whether you receive alimony, child support or separate maintenance payments unless it will be used to pay back the loan.
• Ask about your plans for raising or having children.

However, they can:

• Ask about your permanent residency or immigration status.
• Ask about your marital status if you applying for a joint account or one secured by property, or if you live in a community property state.
• Request information about a spouse if any of the following apply:
    -   You live in a community property state.
    -   The spouse is a co-applicant.
    -   The spouse will share use of the loan account.
    -   You rely on your spouse's income to make payments.
    -   You rely on child support or alimony from a former spouse to make payments.
• Ask whether you pay alimony, child support, or separate maintenance checks.
• Ask the names under which you have previously received credit.
• Ask an applicant to list any account upon which the applicant is liable and ask him to provide the name and address of the account.

Ask about the number of dependents and dependent-related financial obligations.

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