The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) was enacted by Congress more than 35 years ago to increase public scrutiny of access to credit and residential mortgage lending. HMDA data:
- Contains information about the vast majority of mortgage loans in this country;
- Shows whether lenders are serving the housing needs of their communities;
- Gives public officials information that helps them make decisions and policies; and
- Reveals lending patterns that could be discriminatory.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has begun the process of revising Regulation C to reflect changes to HMDA made by the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB will soon propose revisions that:
- Revise which institutions are subject to HMDA;
- Revise what types of loans and applications must be reported;
- Expand the information required for each loan or application; and
- Make operational improvements.
To begin the revision process, the CFPB convened a Small Business Review Panel, because it is required by law to do so, but also to listen to community banks, credit unions, and other small entities that may be affected by the rules. The work of the Small Business Review Panel will be completed with the submission of a report due no later than mid-May.
The CFPB will seek additional feedback from the industry and consumer groups that will be affected by these changes to the HMDA process. Sometime later this year, the CFPB will publish a proposed rule seeking broader public feedback through the standard notice-and-comment rulemaking process.
The remaining parts of this article explore the changes mandated by Dodd-Frank and those desired by the CFPB.