Cadc 79-145 Jerry W. Markham and Marcia J. Harris, A/K/A Marcia Markham v. Colonial Mortgage Service Co., Associates, Inc.

Opinion for the court filed by

SWYGERT, Circuit Judge. SWYGERT, Circuit Judge.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1691, et seq., prohibits creditors from discriminating against applicants on the basis of sex or marital status. We are asked to decide whether this prohibition prevents creditors from refusing to aggregate the incomes of two unmarried joint mortgage applicants when determining their creditworthiness in a situation where the incomes of two similarly situated married joint applicants would have been aggregated. The plaintiffs in this action, Jerry and Marcia Markham,…