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Sept. 19, 2013 – The CFPB on Wednesday launched an online searchable heat map to highlight trends in the mortgage lending transaction data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council for 2012.

The FFIEC data, also released Wednesday, was collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and covers transactions made by credit unions, banks, savings associations and mortgage companies. The data is specifically about first-lien, owner-occupied, one- to four-family homes. The trends include a heavy reliance on mortgages either insured by the Federal Housing Administration – which made up 15 percent of loans in 2012 – or guaranteed by the Department of Veteran Affairs – which made up 7 percent of loans.

The data also showed that mortgage applications and originations increased by 13 percent, after decreasing in 2011. Also up were mortgage refinancing applications – which increased by 6.6 million.

In its release, the FFIEC explained that "HMDA data can facilitate the fair lending examination and enforcement process and promote market transparency . . . [but] HMDA data alone cannot be used to determine whether a lender is complying with fair lending laws." The loan/application registers for the financial institutions included in the data were altered to protect borrower privacy.