The National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reconsider its guidance related to the disclosure of loan-level Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.
NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Andrew Morris said some data should be withheld to protect consumer privacy and limit the reporting impact on credit unions and their members.
Morris, in a letter to the CFPB, said the new disclosure rules could elevate the risk of fraud, identity theft or embarrassment for individual borrowers or applicants.
“HMDA’s statutory purpose does not specify that the public should be able to dissect every aspect of a lender’s underwriting process, and while NAFCU understands that transparency is valuable, there is a point at which the risks to privacy outweigh the benefits of expanded disclosure,” Morris wrote. “NAFCU believes that the proposed policy guidance does not strike the correct balance.”
Morris urged the CFPB to maintain the current level of publicly disclosed data.
The proposed rule changes are set to take effect Jan. 1, with most data submissions under the new provisions due in 2019.
The changes impact home equity lines of credit, establish transactional thresholds for coverage, and expand the number of HMDA data points to be collected from credit unions.