Census data products – used in conjunction with determining compliance with Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rules – have been updated to include 2021 federal census data, the umbrella group for federal financial institution regulators announced Friday.
The geocoding/mapping system, also used for compliance with the rules, has likewise been updated, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which includes all federal bank and credit union regulators.
The census and demographic data, the FFIEC said, support the collection, reporting, and analysis of CRA and HMDA data. It includes certain census, income, and metropolitan area data for geographies. The data are intended to be used only for CRA and HMDA purposes and “may not be suitable for other analytical purposes,” the exam council said.
The Geocoding/Mapping System, according to the FFIEC, helps financial institutions meet legal requirement to report information on mortgage, business, and farm loan applications. Geocoding refers to the Metropolitan Statistical Area/Metropolitan Division (MSA/MD), state, county, census tract combination (address information) that must be provided for each reported loan application. The system, according to the FFIEC, allows institutions to enter a street address to determine the corresponding geocode. It also provides census demographic information about a particular census tract, including income, population, and housing data.