The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a new loan-level set collected through its National Survey of Mortgage Originations. The survey — which asks borrowers about their experiences obtaining a mortgage, perceptions of the mortgage market and future expectations — is part of the agencies’ National Mortgage Database. The NMDB was established in 2012 and includes detailed information from more than 10 million borrowers.
The American Bankers Association previously raised concerns about the survey initiative, particularly regarding the scope of the data collected and about consumer privacy. Specifically, ABA noted 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. The association is reviewing this data release and will continue to engage with FHFA and the CFPB on their data collection efforts going forward.