The Fact
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 prohibited discrimination in credit transactions on the basis of sex or marital status. Regulation B subsequently required creditors to make individual credit accounts available to creditworthy married applicants regardless of sex and barred discriminatory account practices.
What This Means
The key federal change in 1974 concerned equal access to credit, not the creation of women’s ability to hold ordinary bank accounts for the first time.
Sources
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Federal Reserve Regulation B historical materials.