In an interpretive rule issued today, the CFPB provided guidance on how it will determine which counties qualify as “underserved” for a given calendar year, as required by Regulation Z. A list of rural and underserved counties is published annually on the CFPB website based on certain Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from the preceding calendar year.
The existing commentary to Regulation Z references several data elements that have since been modified or eliminated as a result of the 2015 amendments to the HMDA rules. Today’s interpretive rule supersedes that outdated interpretation.