The permanent threshold for collecting and reporting data about closed-end mortgage loans will be 100 loans – up from 25 loans – as of July 1 under a final rule issued by the federal consumer financial protection agency Thursday.
The final rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) also increases the permanent threshold for collecting and reporting data about open-end lines of credit from 100 to 200, effective Jan. 1, 2022, when the current temporary threshold of 500 of open-end lines of credit expires, the agency said.
In announcing the final rule, the bureau said it recognized “operational challenges confronted by institutions due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.” It said it anticipated that the final rule, once effective, would “reduce regulatory burden on smaller institutions to help those institutions to focus on responding to consumers in need now and in the longer term.”
Nearly a year ago (May 2, 2019), the bureau proposed the higher thresholds for Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting, saying it was doing so to provide relief to smaller lenders (such as credit unions and community banks) from HMDA’s data reporting requirements. At the time, the agency said the proposal would also clarify partial exemptions from certain disclosure requirements enacted in last year’s regulatory relief legislation, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA, S.2155).
With regard to the open-end lines of credit, CFPB noted that last October it extended the temporary open-end threshold until Jan. 1, 2022. “Absent today’s final rule, the open-end threshold would have reverted to 100 open-end lines of credit upon the expiration of the temporary threshold,” the agency said.