Agencies revise definitions under CRA to conform to changes for home mortgage disclosures

Definitions of “home mortgage loan” and “consumer loan,” as well as the public file content requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) have been revised by the federal banking agencies to conform to changes made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), the agencies announced Monday.

In joint releases, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said they have conformed certain definitions in their respective CRA regulations to the “scope of loans reported under Regulation C and believe that continuing to do so produces a less burdensome CRA performance evaluation process.” The changes were made in a final rule

The agencies pointed to the definitions of “home mortgage loan” and “consumer loan” as key changes in particular.

The agencies said that, additionally, the final rule contains technical corrections and removes obsolete references to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

The changes to the CRA regulations will become effective on Jan. 1, the agencies said.

Joint News Release: Agencies Amend CRA Regulations to Conform to HMDA Regulation Changes and Remove References to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program