CFPB Launches New Online HMDA Tool

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has launched an online tool to provide consumers with easy access to public mortgage information collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The tool enables greater transparency by helping inform people of trends in their local mortgage markets. “Just as the real estate motto ‘location, location, location’ was true before the recent financial crisis, it was true for the crisis. Every community was affected differently,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Our tool puts valuable information into the hands of the public in an accessible way, so they can understand what is happening in their local mortgage markets. A more transparent mortgage market will lead to a better marketplace and better outcomes for consumers.” The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act transferred Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rulemaking authority from the Federal Reserve Board to the CFPB on July 21, 2011. While the CFPB has the rulemaking authority, other federal banking regulators and the Department of Housing and Urban Development still share other authorities. Each year, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), comprised of the federal banking regulators, releases the full public HMDA data set to the public. The CFPB tool being released today focuses on the number of mortgage applications and originations, in addition to loan purposes and loan types for 2010 through 2012. It looks specifically at first-lien, owner-occupied, one- to four- family and manufactured homes. Using the tool, the public can see nationwide summaries or they can choose interactive features that allow them to isolate the information for metropolitan areas.