FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 16, 2020

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CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU ISSUES FINAL RULE RAISING DATA REPORTING THRESHOLDS UNDER THE HOME MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE ACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a final rule raising the loan-volume coverage thresholds for financial institutions reporting data under the Home Mortgage Reporting Act (HMDA).

The final rule, amending Regulation C, increases the permanent threshold for collecting and reporting data about closed-end mortgage loans from 25 to 100 loans effective July 1, 2020. The final rule will also amend Regulation C to increase the permanent threshold for collecting and reporting data about open-end lines of credit from 100 to 200, effective January 1, 2022, when the current temporary threshold of 500 of open-end lines of credit expires. In October 2019, the Bureau extended the temporary open-end threshold until January 1, 2022. Absent today's final rule, the open-end threshold would have reverted to 100 open-end lines of credit upon the expiration of the temporary threshold.

HMDA and its implementing regulation require certain financial institutions to report data about mortgage loan applications, originations and their purchases. The data serve HMDA's purposes, which are to help determine whether financial institutions are serving the housing needs of their communities, to assist public officials in distributing public-sector investment so as to attract private investment to areas where it is needed, and to assist in identifying possible discriminatory lending patterns and enforcing antidiscrimination statutes.

The Bureau recognizes the operational challenges confronted by institutions due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Bureau anticipates that this final rule, once effective, will reduce regulatory burden on smaller institutions to help those institutions to focus on responding to consumers in need now and in the longer term.

The final HMDA rule may be found here: files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/....

A summary of the final HMDA rule may be found here: files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/....

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.