H.R. 941 — Small LENDER Act

This section requires financial institutions collecting demographic data on credit applications from women-owned, minority-owned, or small businesses to provide applicants written notice of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s annual reporting requirement, the applicant’s right to refuse, and that responses will not affect credit decisions, along with a one-page plain-English model form. It removes prior limits on underwriter access to such data, prohibits institutions from determining demographic information through visual observation or other non-applicant sources, delays compliance until June 1, 2031 (with a 2-year safe harbor), exempts institutions originating fewer than 2,500 small business credit transactions in each of the prior two years or holding under $10 billion in assets, bars use of response rates to assess compliance, and defines small business as any entity with $1 million or less in gross annual revenues.