CPFB Provides Key to Using HMDA Data

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureaurn(CFPB) announced new tools yesterday that will help consumers further explore the HomernMortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data that was released by the FederalrnFinancial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC).  The 2012 HMDA data includesrninformation on loan originations, loan declinations, mortgage preapprovals andrnloan sales and purchases from 7,400 financial institutions covered by HMDA requirements.  As close to 19 million mortgage-related actionsrnare covered in the database, tools to explore and manage it are probably arnnecessity.   </p

In announcing the tools CFPB said they willrn”help maximize the impact of thisrntremendous public dataset by providing a user-friendly tool to enable consumersrnto explore mortgage application and loan data at a local level.”</p

Therndata, CFPB said, can help show whether lenders are serving the housing needs ofrntheir communities and can give public officials information to help them makerndecisions and policies.  It can alsornilluminate lending patterns that could be discriminatory.</p

Therntools allow the users to see nationwide summaries or use interactive features</bto isolate data for any metropolitan area. rnThe map below, showing loan volume changes in 2012, is an example ofrninformation that can generated with the tool. rn</p