A coalition of U.S. senators recently demanded that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescind its proposal to reduce reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).
HMDA requires financial institutions to report and publicly disclose mortgage data, which is used by Federal regulators, local governments, and advocates to ensure that all markets have access to mortgage credit and monitor compliance with fair lending laws. However, a proposal to further reduce HMDA data collection would undermine fair lending enforcement and monitoring at the national, local, and institutional level, the senators stated.
“HMDA regulations finalized in October 2015 exempted 22 percent of depositories that were required to report HMDA data prior to the 2015 rulemaking, which resulted in the loss of significant data in certain census tracts,” the senators wrote to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger. “The latest proposal would reduce data collection beyond these already reduced levels. This would have a disproportionate impact on communities served by smaller lenders, including rural areas.”
The letter was signed by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).
“We are extremely concerned that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has once again put the interests the financial industry above those of the consumers it is charged to protect. We urge you to immediately rescind all proposed changes in reporting thresholds for closed-end and open-end mortgage loans,” the senators added.