CFPB To Require More Data Than Ever on Mortgage Borrowers

Pix: money.cnn.com

 By Elizabeth Ecker

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is gearing up to start requiring lenders to report a lot more borrower data.

As part of a new initiative announced late last week, the CFPB is seeking information from small businesses to help inform a rule making that will require lenders to submit more Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data than ever before—including credit scores and debt to income ratios both for applications that are accepted and those that are denied. This, the agency says, will help them spot “troublesome trends.” 

“Today we are asking for small businesses to provide feedback on ideas to improve the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which monitors the largest consumer financial market in the world,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We want there to be better information, better collection, and better access to this important information.”

The effort extends to protecting older Americans, Cordray said in a call with reporters, who are often targeted due to their age. 

“Older americans too often targeted by unscrupulous contractors… and lenders are not required to flag the age of the borrower,” he said. 

The enforcement of such a rule is still more than a year away, CFPB officials said in announcing the initiative, as the agency currently is collecting feedback from market participants that will help them make the rule. 

The agency is required by Congress under the Dodd-Frank Act to collect additional data of mortgage borrowers. 

In addition to the new data collection efforts, the CFPB is also making it easier to access and filter HMDA data through the launch of a new data portal. The new tool allows users to sort, filter and download data, create summary tables and share results.