While we knew the passage of S.2155 (The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act) would bring much-needed regulatory relief to credit unions across the country, uncertainty remained over the implications this Act would have on the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).  That changed last Friday, when the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) issued an interpretive and procedural rule to clarify the requirements of Section 104.  This section provides regulatory relief to small depository institutions that have originated less than 500 closed-end mortgage loans or less than 500 open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years by exempting them from certain disclosure requirements under HMDA.

The Bureau also released updates to the Filing Instructions Guide (FIG) for HMDA data collected in 2018 and indicated that the CFPB will initiate (at a later date) a notice-and-comment rulemaking to incorporate these interpretations and procedures into Regulation C.

In summary, the rule:

  • Clarifies that insured credit unions covered by a partial exemption under the Act have the option of reporting exempt data fields as long as they report all data fields within any exempt data point for which they report data; clarifies that only loans and lines of credit that are otherwise HMDA reportable count toward the thresholds for the partial exemptions;
  • Clarifies which of the data points in Regulation C are covered by the partial exemptions;
  • Designates a non-universal loan identifier for partially exempt transactions for institutions that choose not to report a universal loan identifier; and
  • Clarifies the Act’s exception to the partial exemptions for negative Community Reinvestment Act examination history.

CFPB Rulemaking Table