CFPB issues report on review of HMDA rule effectiveness

Findings from a review of the overall effectiveness of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule, from 2015 forward, are provided in 177-page report released Friday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The bureau said it conducted a voluntary review of its rule despite the fact it deemed it not to be a “significant rule” under section 1022(d) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), that is, it was not one for which an assessment would have been required.

The bureau said it received received about 40 comments in response to its 2021 request for information (RFI) about its plans to conduct the review. Comments came from individual organizations and groups and reflecting viewpoints from financial institutions, fair housing and civil rights advocates, consumers, mortgage insurers, and others. The bureau said it “expects that the findings made in this report and the public comments received … will help inform the Bureau’s future policy decisions concerning HMDA reporting requirements, including whether to commence a rulemaking to make the HMDA Rule more effective in meeting its goals.”

In a section on general comments about the HMDA rule, the CFPB said that on the rule’s overall effectiveness, “consumer groups, civil rights groups, and other organizations expressed support for the data required by the HMDA Rule.”

Noting that while it was outside the scope of its assessment, the CFPB also said “several commenters, including consumer and civil rights groups and software vendors, stated that changes to the way the [HMDA] data is disseminated – such as additional summary tables and improved clarity and labeling on the website – would increase the HMDA Rule’s effectiveness by making the data more easily accessible.“

Report on the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Rule Voluntary Review