The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing to raise the coverage thresholds for reporting data about mortgage loans and lines of credit.
The CFPB’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) would provide relief to smaller lenders from Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data reporting requirements. Further, it would clarify partial exemptions from certain HMDA requirements that Congress added in the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The bureau is also seeking information on the costs and benefits of reporting certain data points under HMDA.
“Today’s proposed changes would provide much-needed relief to smaller community banks and credit unions while still providing federal regulators and other stakeholders with the information we need under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act,” CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger said. “The public is encouraged to submit their comments on the proposals, which will be considered by the Bureau before the next step is taken.”
HMDA requires many financial institutions to publicly disclose loan-level information about mortgages to show whether lenders are serving the housing needs of their communities. It also gives public officials information that helps them make decisions and policies and sheds light on lending patterns that could be discriminatory.
CFPB is proposing to permanently increase the coverage threshold from 25 to either 50 or 100 closed-end mortgage loans. For open-end lines of credit, the proposal would extend for another two years the current temporary coverage threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit. Once that extension expires, it would permanently be set at 200 open-end lines of credit.
The public is invited to submit written comments on these proposed changes.