We believe that the bank can inquire as to whether applicants are married to each other (or in a civil union together), provided that the bank needs to know about the applicants’ marital status in order to secure the loan. Generally, the bank would need to know about an applicant’s marital status if the application was for a loan secured by real estate (in which case the bank may need the applicant’s spouse or other party to a civil union to sign the homestead waiver, under 735 ILCS 5/12-904, and to sign a mortgage (but not the note), if the couple owns the mortgaged property jointly).

(Note that while Regulation B requires lenders to inquire about an applicant’s marital status using only the terms “married, unmarried, and separated” (under 12 CFR 1002.5(d)(1)), the CFPB has informally advised us that banks may also inquire about an applicant’s civil union status if the applicant is applying for secured credit or for joint credit.)