Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will require servicers to obtain and maintain borrowers’ fair lending data on their loans, and for the data to transfer with servicing throughout the mortgage term, according to a notice today from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Servicers will be required to implement the change beginning March 1 of next year. The data collected will include borrowers’ age, race, ethnicity and gender along with preferred language, which the agency said in May it also would require next year.
Freddie Mac issued a bulletin today on the new requirement, which added that the data elements must be stored in a format that can be searched, queried and transferred. Fannie Mae also released an updated servicing guide today related to the fair lending data requirements.
“Having fair lending data travel with servicing will help servicers do the important work of providing assistance to borrowers in need, helping to further a sustainable and equitable housing finance system,” said FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, adding that the need for fair lending data collection was a result of the foreclosure crisis and COVID-19 response.
