Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data Collection Requirements for Calendar Year 2021

Dear Boards of Directors and Chief Executive Officers:

If your credit union makes residential mortgage loans and meets all four criteria outlined below, you must comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).¹

Regulation C requires you to collect HMDA data associated with mortgage loan applications processed during 2021 if:

1. Your credit union’s total assets as of December 31, 2020, exceeded $48 million;²
2. Your credit union had a home or branch office in a Metropolitan Statistical Area on December 31, 2020;
3. Your credit union originated at least one home purchase loan (other than temporary financing such as a construction loan) or refinanced a home purchase loan, secured by a first lien on a one-to-four-unit dwelling during 2020; and
4. Your credit union originated at least 100 covered closed-end mortgage loans in each of the two preceding calendar years (2019 and 2020) or at least 500 covered open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years (2019 and 2020).³

If your credit union meets all four criteria, you must collect HMDA data during calendar year 2021 and submit the data to the CFPB no later than March 1, 2022.

If your credit union does not meet all four criteria, you are exempt from filing HMDA data for mortgage loan applications processed in calendar year 2021.

HMDA Data Partial Exemptions

Regulation C contains partial exemptions from HMDA’s requirements for certain transactions.

The regulation provides that a credit union is not required to collect or report certain data about closed-end mortgage loans if it originated fewer than 500 covered closed-end mortgage loans in each of the two preceding calendar years. Similarly, a credit union is not required to collect or report certain data about open-end lines of credit if it originated fewer than 500 covered open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years.

Note: A credit union that did not originate at least 500 covered open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years (2019 and 2020) is not required to report any open-end line of credit information for 2021.

Section 1003.3(c) of Regulation C lists excluded (not covered) transactions.

The table below provides partial exemption examples.

As the table indicates, the partial exemption for closed-end mortgage loans and the partial exemption for open-end lines of credit operate independently of one another. Thus, a credit union may be able to rely on one partial exemption but not the other.

There are a total of 48 data points currently required by Regulation C (HMDA). The regulation specifies that 26 of these data points are not required to be collected and reported if a transaction qualifies for a partial exemption. The regulation also specifies that 22 of these data points must still be collected and reported even if a transaction qualifies for a partial exemption. Appendix F (Partial Exemptions Charts) in the 2020 A Guide to HMDA Reporting: Getting It Right! outlines the 26 data points covered by the partial exemptions and the 22 data points not covered by the partial exemptions.

In 2021, Credit Union A would only be required to collect and report the 22 non-exempt data points, but not the 26 exempt data points, for its closed-end mortgage loans and applications. Credit Union A would however be required to collect and report all 48 data points for its open-end lines of credit loans and applications.

In 2021, Credit Union B and C would be required to collect and report all 48 data points for both its closed-end mortgage loans and applications and its open-end lines of credit loans and applications.

Additional Information

If you have questions about the information in this Regulatory Alert, please contact the NCUA’s Office of Consumer Financial Protection at 703.518.1140 or ComplianceMail@ncua.gov. You can also contact your NCUA regional office or your state supervisory authority.