HMDA: What Is the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Why Is It Important?
The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) is a federal law that requires lenders to collect and share information about the home loans they issue. Mortgage lenders must report specific data on every application they receive, including loans for home purchases, refinances and home improvements.
The HMDA generates data that regulators and the public can use to combat discrimination in lending and direct resources to communities in need.
- The HMDA is a federal law requiring mortgage lenders to collect and publicly report data on home loan applications, including purchases, refinances and home improvement loans.
- Lenders submit HMDA data to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB each year, and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) releases aggregated and anonymized data to the public.
- Regulators and the public use HMDA data to identify lending discrimination, direct investment to underserved communities and enforce anti-discrimination laws.
What is the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)?
The HMDA is a federal law that requires mortgage lenders to make information about the loans they issue available to the public. Congress passed the HMDA in 1975 to combat housing discrimination and inequity in lending. After the 2007 to 2008 housing market crash, the Dodd-Frank Act established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and gave it authority to make HMDA rules.
How does the HMDA work?
Each year, mortgage lenders submit HMDA information to the CFPB by March 1 for the loans they issued the previous year. If that date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) then aggregates the data and releases it to the public. New data typically becomes available the following year.
What’s included in HMDA reporting?
Lenders record every home loan application in a Loan Application Register (LAR). Lenders submit the full LAR to the CFPB, but the version released to the public is anonymized to protect applicant and borrower privacy. The public data doesn’t include personally identifying details like borrower names, credit scores or exact property addresses. It reports some figures, like the loan amount and applicant age, as rounded ranges rather than exact numbers.
The public LAR includes basic information about the loan, the property and the borrower, such as:
- Loan: Application date, loan type, loan purpose, loan amount and rate spread
- Collateral: Property type and location
- Applicants: Ethnicity, race, sex and gross annual income
- Loan status: Approved, withdrawn or denied
- Denial reason: If the loan was denied, the reason it was denied
How to access HMDA data
You can find HMDA data in several places:
- The CFPB has historical HMDA reporting covering 2007-2017
- The FFIEC manages the HMDA data publication, which includes the most recent years of data
- The FFIEC’s HMDA Data Browser includes interactive charts and graphs and an interactive map for exploring lending patterns by state or county.
Why is HMDA important?
The HMDA doesn’t set lending quotas or dictate who a lender can approve. It just requires lenders to disclose loan data in a report. That gives government entities like the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as the general public, a way to monitor lending trends and hold lenders accountable.
Public officials, regulators and the public can use HMDA data to:
- Identify the causes of lending discrimination, specifically housing credit discrimination
- Identify, track and better serve the housing needs of communities with public and community investment initiatives
- Recognize predatory lending practices and enforce anti-discrimination statutes
HMDA data offers insight into a lender’s business, including denial rates, average loan costs and loan-to-value ratios for approved borrowers. LendingTree incorporates HMDA data, along with other information, into our mortgage lender reviews to help you evaluate lenders.
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Resources on fair housing and fair lending
Housing discrimination still happens, despite the HMDA and other policies created to counter it. In fact, LendingTree found that Black homebuyers are 1.7 times more likely to be denied a mortgage, according to an analysis of HMDA data.
For more information on your rights, where to find local help and how to file a complaint, check out the resources below.
Official complaints
This U.S. government page provides a guide to filing official complaints against mortgage lenders. It includes which agency to contact based on the reason for your complaint and offers additional resources, such as a sample complaint letter.
Legal information
Here are resources on national laws involving mortgages and housing:
- The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits lending discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age.
- You can file a housing discrimination complaint with HUD if you believe a lender used discriminatory practices.
- The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against people looking to rent, purchase or finance a home.
Local agencies
You can also reach out to an agency in your area, such as:
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