The federal
bank, credit union, and thrift supervisory agencies, along with the Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), today released updated “Answers to
Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQs) to aid interpretation of the 2005 home loan
data to be disclosed this year under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
(HMDA).
For the second year in a row, the
data will include price information on loans priced above reporting thresholds
set by the Federal Reserve Board regulation that implements HMDA, Regulation
C. As of March 31, lenders started
making these data available to the public upon request in the form of a Loan
Application Register, after removing certain information to protect the privacy
of applicants and borrowers. Summary statistical
reports for each lender and an aggregate report for each Metropolitan
Statistical Area will be released in September by the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC).
Preliminary indications are that
the data will show that the proportion of mortgage loans with prices above the
HMDA price reporting thresholds increased from 2004 to 2005. The updated FAQs, in newly added Question 27,
explain that an increase is expected because of changes in the interest rate
environment from 2004 to 2005 – specifically, the narrowing of the difference
between short-term interest rates and long-term interest rates (sometimes
referred to as a “flattening of the yield curve”). Changes in other factors, such as the
business practices of lenders or the risk profiles or borrowing practices of
borrowers, also could have affected the proportion of loans reported as
higher-priced loans.
The updated
FAQs will be posted on each of the agencies’ websites and on the web site of
the FFIEC, www.ffiec.gov/hmda.
HMDA, which was enacted by Congress
in 1975, requires most mortgage lenders located in metropolitan areas to
collect data about their housing-related lending activity, report the data
annually to the government, and make the data publicly available in a modified
Loan Application Register.
Initially, HMDA required reporting
of the geographic location of originated and purchased home loans. In 1989, Congress expanded HMDA data to
include information about denied home loan applications and the race, sex, and
income of applicants and borrowers. In
2002, the Federal Reserve Board amended the HMDA regulations to require lenders
to report price data for certain higher-priced home mortgage loans, and other new
data.
The
frequently asked questions (PDF) about the new HMDA data are attached.
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Media Contacts:
Federal Reserve Susan
Stawick (202)
452-2955
HUD Antoinette
Banks (202) 708-0685
FDIC David
Barr (202)
898-6992
NCUA John
McKechnie (703)
518-6331
OCC Kevin
Mukri (202)
874-5770
OTS Kevin
Petrasic (202)
906-6677