Washington, DC – Today, in reaction to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s release of a final rule regarding modifications to Regulation C, which will implement changes to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), NCRC President and CEO John Taylor made the following statement:
“This expansion of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data is a very positive thing for consumers everywhere. Had we had this expanded data before, it would have provided an early warning system that would have helped to prevent the housing crisis. This data will serve to increase the fairness of mortgage markets for all Americans.”
“We are particularly pleased that the CFPB has followed the recommendation of NCRC and other advocacy groups to disaggregate the data on race and ethnicity. The CFPB has also shown careful consideration of potential privacy issues in this process, which should assuage any concerns surrounding the collection of the data.”
“The next step for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to ensure that all of the data elements collected that pose no privacy concerns are released to the public. Detailed public disclosure gives increased transparency to the market, and allows members of the public to detect lending discrimination and abuse. We urge the CFPB to commence this process as soon as possible.”
In October of 2014, NCRC and other national and community groups submitted a comment letter in reaction to the proposed changes to HMDA, calling for robust data collection and timely public release of the data elements which do not pose a privacy risk.
NCRC has long advocated for the expansion of HMDA, including more information on loan terms and conditions and additional information on borrower characteristics.
