Modified loan application registers (LARs) data for about 5,400 financial institutions were released Friday by the federal consumer financial protection agency, marking the first time the registers were released with additional data required under regulations adopted in 2015.
The LARs, released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and required to be released by March 31, contain loan-level information for 2018 individual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) filers. The bureau said the LARs were modified to protect privacy.
According to the CFPB website (cfpb.gov, or consumerfinance.gov),a downloadable modified LAR file is available for each of the approximately 5,400 financial institutions that has completed a HMDA data submission in the selected year. To download a modified LAR for an individual financial institution, users should enter a financial institution’s name in the online form. (If an institution’s filing does not appear, it may not have been required to report HMDA data or it may not have completed its HMDA data submission, CFPB noted).
The bureau also said that, later in 2019, additional HMDA data would be published, including a complete loan level dataset and HMDA aggregate and disclosure reports, which will be accompanied by a Data Point article highlighting key trends.
“The information to be released this year will include certain new data points, which can provide more insights into the mortgage lending practices of institutions,” the bureau said in a release. “The CFPB anticipates applying particular rigor and analysis to address data anomalies, including in the new data points and describing the context in which the data may be best understood.