Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau relaxed some of the requirements for the data collection and reporting stipulated by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
The policy exempted insured depository institutions and credit unions that originated less than 500 closed-end mortgages or 500 open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding years from certain HMDA reporting requirements.
Now, the CFPB is proposing to ease the HMDA reporting requirements even more.
The CFPB announced Thursday that it is proposing new HMDA rules that would increase the HMDA reporting threshold for mortgages, meaning some smaller lenders and credit unions may not have to report their lending activities, at all.
Under the current rules, lenders that originate 25 mortgages or more in a two-year period are required to report to their HMDA data to the CFPB.
The new proposal establishes two new reporting thresholds that are under consideration. According to the CFPB, the new rules would raise the HMDA reporting requirement to either 50 or 100 mortgages during a two-year period.
According to the CFPB, the new rules for mortgages would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.
Beyond that, for open-end lines of credit, the proposed rules would extend the current temporary coverage threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit for two more years, until Jan. 1, 2022. Then, once the temporary extension expires, the rules would establish a permanent threshold of 200 open-end lines of credit.
“Today’s proposed changes would provide much needed relief to smaller community banks and credit unions while still providing federal regulators and other stakeholders with the information we need under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act,” CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said of the proposed rule changes. “The public is encouraged to submit their comments on the proposals, which will be considered by the Bureau before the next step is taken.”
In addition to the proposed rule changes for the HMDA home mortgage reporting rules, the CFPB also issued a separate advance notice of proposed rulemaking soliciting comments about the “costs and benefits of collecting and reporting the data points the 2015 HMDA Rule added to Regulation C and certain preexisting data points that the 2015 HMDA Rule revised.”
As part of that notice, the CFPB is also seeking comments about the “costs and benefits of requiring that institutions report certain commercial-purpose loans made to a non-natural person and secured by a multifamily dwelling.”
To read the CFPB’s proposed rules on HMDA reporting closed-end mortgage and open-end lines of credit, click here.
And to read the bureau’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on the “costs and benefits of collecting and reporting the data points the 2015 HMDA Rule added to Regulation C and certain preexisting data points that the 2015 HMDA Rule revised,” and the “costs and benefits of requiring that institutions report certain commercial-purpose loans made to a non-natural person and secured by a multifamily dwelling,” click here.
