The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is a U.S. law that requires that U.S. financial institutions and other creditors make credit equally available to all creditworthy customers without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age. For example, a creditor cannot ask you to reapply, close your account or change terms of a loan if you become widowed or divorced. Income from pensions, annuities or part-time employment may not be excluded by a creditor in evaluating a consumer’s creditworthiness.