Summary: ANPR Relating to Home Mortgage Disclosure Data Points and Coverage

Summary: Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Relating to Home Mortgage Disclosure Data Points and Coverage

12 CRP Part 1003

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Prepared by the NASCUS Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Department

May 2019

 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an Advanced Noticed of Proposed Rulemaking to solicit comments relating to whether to make changes to the data points that the Bureau’s October 2015 final rule implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) added to Regulation C or revised to require additional information.  The Bureau is also seeking comments relating to the requirement that institutions report certain business or commercial-purpose transactions under Regulation C.

The ANPR can be found here.  Comments are due to the Bureau no later than July 8, 2019.

Summary

HMDA requires certain depository institutions and for-profit nondepository institutions to collect, record and report data about originations and purchases of mortgage loans, as well as mortgage loan applications that do not result in originations.  Prior to the enactment of Dodd Frank, Regulation C required reporting of 22 data points and allowed for optional reporting of reasons an institution denied an application. Dodd- Frank expanded the scope of information relating to mortgage applications and loans that institutions must compile, maintain and report under HMDA.  In October 2015, the Bureau issued the 2015 HMDA rule, which implemented the new data points required under Dodd-Frank as well as certain re-adopted certain pre-existing data points added by Regulation C.  The 2015 HMDA Rule also added a number of additional data points pursuant to the Bureau’s discretionary authority and revised certain pre-existing data points to provide for greater specificity or additional information in reporting.

As noted above, the Bureau is seeking comments relating to whether to make changes to (i) the data points that the 2015 HMDA Rule added to Regulation C or revised to require additional information and (ii) Regulation C’s coverage of business or commercial purpose loans made to a non-natural person and secured by a multifamily dwelling.

 

With regard to the data points required by the 2015 HMDA rule, the Bureau is specifically seeking feedback on the following:

 

  1. Identify any new data point or any data point revised to require additional information from the table in the ANPR for which the cost of collecting and reporting the information does not justify the benefit that the information collected/reported provided in furthering the purposes of HMDA.  For each such data point:
  2. Please describe the nature/magnitude of operational challenges in collecting/reporting the required.
  3. What ongoing costs are incurred in collecting/reporting the required information? Has the Bureau’s new web-based data submission and edit-check system affected ongoing costs of collecting/reporting the required information? If so, how and how much? To what extent are the data point requirements aligned with industry standards, and how does that affect ongoing costs of collecting/reporting the required information?
  • Would financial institutions generally collect the required information in the ordinary course of business absent Regulation C requirements? If so, what are the incremental costs associated with reporting the required information? If not, what are the costs associated with collecting/reporting the required information?
  1. How much value does the data point provide in furthering the purposes of HMDA?
  2. The 2015 HMDA Rule requires financial institutions to complete free-form text fields for certain data points when certain circumstances are met. For each free-form text field required by the 2015 HMDA Rule:
  3. What are the costs of providing information through the free-form text field?
  4. What are the benefits of providing information through the free-form text field?
  • Are there better alternatives to providing information than through the free-form text field?
  1. Are there other considerations that the Bureau should take into account in deciding whether to propose to eliminate or revise any new data point or revised data point from the 2015 HMDA Rule?

 

  1. Are there new or revised data points under the 2015 HMDA Rule for which more explanation is needed to clarify the collection/reporting requirements? If so, please identity any data point for which additional clarity could reduce the costs associated with collecting/reporting the data and improve the value of the data in furthering the purposes of HMDA.

With regard to whether HMDA should cover certain business or commercial purpose transactions, the Bureau is seeking the following:

  1. The value that data on such transactions provides in serving HMDA’s purposes
  2. Other benefits associated with reporting such transactions
  • The burden imposed by the requirement to report data on such transactions