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Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., yesterday introduced legislation that would delay the collection and reporting of new data points under the CFPB's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) final rule. The rule is currently set to take effect in just weeks; NAFCU has recommended that the bureau delay mandatory compliance to Jan. 1, 2019, but permit a voluntary compliance period.

Emmer's bill, H.R. 4648, pushes the effective date for data collection until Jan. 1, 2019, and the reporting deadline until Jan. 1, 2020. It also prohibits the CFPB from publicly publishing any information collected under HMDA except in an aggregate form.

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger recently sent a letter to CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney requesting that the bureau delay the HMDA's rule effective date until at least 2019, allow for a voluntary compliance period and execute a "good faith efforts" policy for examinations until 2020 in order to allow a smooth, least-cost transition for credit unions.

The CFPB publicly acknowledged that it will rely on "good faith efforts" in its initial HMDA compliance examinations and its actions will be "diagnostic and corrective, not punitive." The bureau highlighted its "good faith efforts" plan in its Supervisory Highlights, Summer 2017 report.

In another letter sent to the CFPB in November, NAFCU urged the CFPB to consider withholding some data in order to protect consumer privacy and recommended that the bureau maintain publicly disclosed data similar to its current state.

The HMDA rule changes affect home equity lines of credit, establish transactional thresholds for coverage and expand the number of HMDA data points to be collected from credit unions.

NAFCU has a host of HMDA compliance resources available to association members, including charts and guides, articles, webcasts and blog posts.