ABA and several other trade associations yesterday expressed concern over the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed collection of information for its National Mortgage Database, which would include detailed data from more than 10 million borrowers. The letter warned that the scope of information being collected, along with the lack of clarity on which agencies would have access to the data, pose risks to consumer privacy.
Under the FHFA’s proposal, data from the National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers — an extensive, 80-85 question survey — would be used to populate the database with consumer mortgage information including names, social security numbers and property-specific information. The FHFA and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have yet to establish policies on who would have access to the database.
The trade associations expressed concerns that the data could be used to identify individual borrowers, and that consumer privacy could be at risk in the event of a data breach. They also pointed out that much of the data the survey would collect is already being gathered by other agencies and urged the FHFA to review existing data collection efforts to identify redundancies.
