The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today issued a proposal to provide relief for smaller institutions from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection and reporting requirements. The proposal would increase the coverage threshold for closed-end mortgage loans from 25 loans to either 50 or 100. For open-end lines of credit, the CFPB is proposing to extend for another two years the current temporary coverage threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit. After that, the threshold would be permanently set at 200.
American Bankers Association SVP Virginia O’Neill welcomed the proposal and said the association would “analyze these amendments to ensure they appropriately exempt smaller institutions that account for only a minor portion of the mortgage market, while preserving HMDA’s intent.” Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
In addition, the CFPB issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking feedback on the costs and benefits of the expanded HMDA data reporting requirements, as well as previously existing data points that were revised by the 2015 HMDA rule. Comments on the ANPR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
“HMDA was always intended as an early-warning tool to assess if discrimination may be taking place in mortgage lending, and it is important to both borrowers and lenders—particularly smaller, community banks—that the information collected by the bureau is truly relevant and compliance does not end up inadvertently raising borrowing costs for consumers,” O’Neill said. “We look forward to sharing our members’ views and working with the CFPB as this process moves forward.”
