This annual report describes FHFA's accomplishments, as well as challenges, the agency faced in meeting the strategic goals and objectives during the past fiscal year.
Read about the agency’s 2019 examinations of Fannie Mac, Freddie Mac and the Home Loan Bank System.
Submit comments and provide input on FHFA Rules Open for Comment by clicking on Rulemaking and Federal Register.
Implement critical reforms that will produce a stronger and more resilient housing finance system.
FOSTER competitive, liquid, efficient, and resilient (CLEAR) national housing finance markets that support sustainable homeownership and affordable rental housing; OPERATE in a safe and sound manner appropriate for entities in conservatorship; and PREPARE for eventual exits from the conservatorships.
2020 Scorecard
2019 Conservatorships Strategic Plan
FHFA experts provide reliable data, including all states, about activity in the U.S. mortgage market through its House Price Index, Refinance Report, Foreclosure Prevention Report, and Performance Report.
Source: FHFA
FHFA economists and policy experts provide reliable research and policy analysis about critical topics impacting the nation’s housing finance sector. Meet the experts...
Glossaries
COVID-19 Resources
The National Mortgage Database (NMDB®) [1] program is jointly funded and managed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This program is designed to provide a rich source of information about the U.S. mortgage market. It has three primary components:
The NMDB program enables FHFA to meet the statutory requirements of section 1324(c) of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, to conduct a monthly mortgage market survey. Specifically, FHFA must, through a survey of the mortgage market, collect data on the characteristics of individual mortgages, including those eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and those that are not, and including subprime and nontraditional mortgages. In addition, FHFA must collect information on the creditworthiness of borrowers, including a determination of whether subprime and nontraditional borrowers would have qualified for prime lending. [4]
For CFPB, the NMDB program supports policymaking and research efforts and helps identify and understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends. CFPB uses the NMDB, among other purposes, in support of the market monitoring called for by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including understanding how mortgage debt affects consumers and for retrospective rule review required by the statute.
No information on borrower names, addresses, Social Security numbers, or dates of birth is ever used or stored by FHFA or CFPB as part of the NMDB program. Furthermore, safeguards are in place to ensure that information in the database is not used to identify individual borrowers or lenders and is handled in full accordance with federal privacy laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The National Mortgage Database (NMDB) is the first component of the National Mortgage Database program. NMDB is updated quarterly for a nationally representative five percent sample of closed-end first-lien residential mortgages in the United States.
The purpose of NMDB is to inform and educate FHFA, CFPB and other federal agencies about lending products and mortgage market health. The database is comprehensive, and there are many possibilities for how it may be used. Some examples include:
The NMDB assembles credit, administrative, servicing, and property data for a nationally representative five percent sample of closed-end first-lien residential mortgages in the United States. The database includes the following information:
Press Release
FHFA and CFPB Release Additional Data from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations for Public Use (2/20/2020)
FHFA Releases U.S. Mortgage Statistics from the National Mortgage Database (12/12/2018)
FHFA and CFPB Release National Survey of Mortgage Originations Dataset for Public Use (11/8/2018)
FHFA and CFPB Partner on Development of National Mortgage Database (11/1/2012)
Data
NMDB Aggregate Data (12/15/2020)
NSMO Public Use File (2/20/2020)
Technical Documentation
NMDB (3/10/2020)
NSMO (2/20/2020)
NMDB Staff Working Papers
18-02: First-Time Homebuyer Counseling and the Mortgage Selection Experience (3/14/2018)
18-01: Mortgage Experience of Rural Borrowers (3/14/2018)
NMDB Staff at FHFA
Robert B. AveryProject Director
Timothy CritchfieldSenior Financial Analyst
Craig DavisSenior Financial Analyst
Ian KeithSenior Program Analyst
Ismail MohamedSenior Financial Analyst
Saty PatrabanshManager
Jay SchultzSenior Economist
Rebecca SullivanEconomist
Continue to the Meet the Experts page
Notice of Revision to an Existing System of Records: National Mortgage Database Project (12/28/2016)
Revised System of Records-National Mortgage Database Project (8/28/2015)
FHFA Update About the National Mortgage Database (8/1/2014)
System of Records: National Mortgage Database Project (4/16/2014)
Privacy Impact Assessment (11/6/2013)
Notice of Proposed Establishment of New System of Records (12/10/2012)
Privacy Impact Assessment (9/17/2012)
The National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) is the second component of the National Mortgage Database program. The NSMO is conducted quarterly and is jointly sponsored by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The purpose of the NSMO is to collect voluntary feedback directly from borrowers about their mortgage experiences. The information will provide researchers, policy makers, and others with data that they can analyze to inform housing and mortgage-related public policy and to understand consumers’ experiences taking out and having a mortgage. The data will help shape policies in the future to better protect consumers.
If you are here, you probably received our letter asking for your help with an important national survey of mortgage borrowers about their mortgage experiences.
If you obtained a mortgage to purchase or refinance either a personal home or a home for someone else, such as a rental property, we would like to know more about your experience in obtaining that mortgage. Learning directly from borrowers about their experiences will provide valuable information about the functioning of the mortgage market that will help us improve lending practices and the mortgage process for future borrowers.
This survey is jointly sponsored by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), two Federal agencies that are working together to improve the safety and transparency of the lending process for all consumers.
The responses to this survey will remain anonymous. The questionnaire does not ask you for any identifying information, so please do not identify yourself in any way on the envelope or the returned questionnaire.
The code numbers on the survey are there to aid in the scanning process and keep track of returned surveys. We greatly appreciate your effort to answer and return the questionnaire and thank you for your help with this important national survey.
For those who have been selected to be a part of the survey, it can be completed online. Go to www.NSMOsurvey.com and enter your personal PIN number that was included in the cover letter.
If you have any questions about this survey, please feel free to call us at 855-339-7877. We look forward to hearing from you.
Survey Cover Letter
Survey Questionnaire
30-Day Notice of Submission of National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) Information Collection (4/3/2020)
60-Day Notice of Submission of National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) Information Collection (12/10/2019)
30-Day Notice of Submission of National Survey of MortgageOriginations (NSMO) Information Collection (9/13/2016)
60-Day Notice of Submission of National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) Information Collection (12/28/2016)
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (30-Day Notice) (7/1/2013)
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (60-Day Notice) (4/25/2013)
The American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (ASMB) is the third component of the National Mortgage Database program. The ASMB is conducted annually and is jointly sponsored by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The purpose of the ASMB is to collect voluntary feedback directly from borrowers about their mortgage experience, including their experience with maintaining a mortgage under financial stress, their experience in seeking financial assistance, their success in accessing federally-sponsored programs designed to assist them and, where applicable, any challenges they may have had in terminating a mortgage loan. The information will provide researchers, policy makers, and others with data that they can analyze to inform housing and mortgage-related public policy and to understand consumers' experiences maintaining a mortgage under financial stress. The data will help shape policies in the future to better protect consumers.
If you have or recently had a mortgage on a personal home or a home for someone else, such as a rental property, we would like to know more about your experience with maintaining a mortgage under financial stress, experience in seeking financial assistance, success in accessing federally-sponsored programs designed to assist you and, where applicable, any challenges you may have had in terminating a mortgage loan. Learning directly from borrowers about their experiences will provide valuable information about the functioning of the mortgage market that will help us improve lending practices and the mortgage process for future borrowers.
For those who have been selected to be a part of the survey, it can be completed online. Go to www.ASMBsurvey.com and enter your personal PIN number that was included in the cover letter. If you have any questions about this survey, please feel free to call us at 855-339-7877. We look forward to hearing from you.
Survey Questionnaire
30-Day Notice of Submission of American Survey of MortgageBorrowers (ASMB) Emergency Information Collection (8/7/2020)
30-Day Notice of Submission of American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (ASMB) Information Collection (3/24/2016)
60-Day Notice of Submission of National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers (NSEMB) Information Collection (11/10/2015)
[1] NMDB® and FHFA® are federally registered trademarks of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA Marks) and are subject to all applicable laws governing the use of trademarks. FHFA Marks may be used for educational, informational, non-promotional and non-commercial purposes. FHFA requires all third parties referring to FHFA Marks to do so in a manner that does not imply a relationship with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Material in which FHFA Marks appear must acknowledge that the trademarks are federally registered trademarks of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[2] The National Survey of Mortgage Originations was originally called the National Survey of Mortgage Borrowers. The name of the survey was changed to avoid confusion with the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers, effective May 9, 2016.
[3] The American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers was originally called the National Survey of Existing Mortgage Borrowers. The name of the survey was changed to avoid confusion with the National Survey of Mortgage Originations, effective March 24, 2016.
[4] FHFA interprets the NMDB program as a whole, including the NSMO, as the “survey” required by the Safety and Soundness Act. The statutory requirement is for a monthly survey. Core inputs to the NMDB, such as a regular refresh of credit-bureau data, occur monthly, though the NSMO is conducted quarterly.
Page last updated: November 12, 2020
