On May 2, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to amend disclosure requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Currently, the HMDA requires financial institutions to disclose loan-level information about mortgages to reporting agencies in order to assist public officials in policy-making decisions, among other things. The CFPB processes this data and makes it available to the public. The CFPB also issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) seeking information related to the costs and benefits of reporting certain data points under the HMDA.

The CFPB’s NPRM proposes changes that are likely welcome relief for smaller community banks and credit unions. The main proposal provides two alternatives, both of which would raise the threshold requirement for financial institutions that would otherwise be required to provide HMDA data to reporting agencies. Specifically, institutions that originate fewer than 50 closed-end mortgage loans or alternatively, fewer than 100 closed-end mortgage loans in either of the two preceding calendar years, would not have to report such data as of January 1, 2020. For open-end lines of credit, the NPRM would extend for another two years the current temporary coverage threshold of 500 open-end lines of credit. Once that temporary extension expires, the NPRM would set the open-end threshold permanently at 200 open-end lines of credit.

The public is invited to submit written comments on these proposed regulation changes.