CFPB Releases HMDA Implementation Resources

CFPB HMDA

On December 1, the CFPB released a group of resources designed to help financial institutions understand their obligations under HMDA and Regulation C, as amended by the Bureau's October 15 final rule. The resources include a brief 5-page executive summary of the recent changes, the HMDA Small Entity Compliance Guide, two reference tools that show when data must be collected, recorded, and reported and when data can be reported as "not applicable," and HMDA institutional coverage charts for both 2017 and 2018.

The most substantial of these resources is the HMDA Small Entity Compliance Guide that the Bureau describes as, "a plain-language guide to the new rule which makes the content more accessible for industry constituents, especially smaller businesses with limited legal and compliance staff." The guide is 109 pages and covers key changes and effective dates, institutions and transactions that are covered under the new rule, the data points that must be reported and how they should be recorded and reported, as well as small sections on practical implementation and how mergers and acquisitions affect the applicability of the new rule. The guide also provides an e-mail address and phone number for anyone who has reviewed all of the available materials and still has a specific regulatory interpretation question.