The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a much-asked-for proposal to clarify the 2015 updates to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule, in order to help ensure industry compliance, according to the national regulator.
The bureau first released updates to HMDA in October 2015 to improve the quality and type of data reported by financial institutions, the CFPB claims.
From there, the CFPB gave the industry about three years to become compliant, with most of the updated requirements taking effect in January 2018.
And ever since the bureau issued the new HMDA final rule, the industry has been on high alert to come into compliance, even going so far as to say that HMDA is replacing TRID (the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule) as the most dreaded mortgage acronym.
After public outreach and engagement, the CFPB stated that it identified opportunities to clarify parts of the 2015 HMDA Final Rule, which would help financial institutions comply.
“Today’s proposal contains a number of clarifications, technical corrections, and minor changes to the HMDA regulation. These include clarifying certain key terms, such as ‘temporary financing’ and ‘automated underwriting system,’” the CFPB release stated.
[Read the proposed changes by clicking here.]
“The proposal would also, for example, establish transition rules for reporting certain loans purchased by financial institutions. Another proposed change would facilitate reporting the census tract of a property, using a new geocoding tool the CFPB plans to provide online,” it continued.
The CFPB said that it seeks input from a wide range of stakeholders and invites the public to submit written comments on the proposal.
The proposal will be open for public comment for 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
“The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act shines a much-needed spotlight on the mortgage market, which is the largest consumer financial market in the world,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today’s proposal reflects the Bureau’s ongoing and substantive engagement with stakeholders in the marketplace, and will help industry meet its new reporting obligations.”
Again, to read about the proposed changes, click here.
