Two federal agencies announced
on Thursday that they are working together to create the first comprehensive
repository of detailed mortgage loan information. Once in place, the Federal Housing Finance
Agency (FHFA) and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will use
the National Mortgage Database to support their policymaking and research efforts
and to gain a better understanding of emerging mortgage and housing trends.
The database will include
information spanning the life of a mortgage loan from origination through
servicing and include a variety of borrower characteristics including the
borrower's financial and credit profile, the mortgage product and terms, property
information, and the ongoing payment history of the loan. It will not, however include personally
identifiable information and the agencies said they will ensure that individual
consumers cannot be identified through the database or any datasets that may be
made available to researchers or the public. Data will be updated on a monthly basis and
track back as far as 1998.
The database will be built by matching a nationwide sampling of credit bureau
files on borrower's
mortgages and
payment
histories
with
informational files
such as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database, property
valuation models, and other data files
to create a comprehensive picture for
each mortgage. Work has begun on the
project which is expected to be completed next year. FHFA and CFPB said they are committed to
exploring ways to share the database with other agencies, academics, and the
public once it is complete.
The agencies said that although the mortgage market is the single largest market
for consumer
finance
there is a lack
of comprehensive data available on a complete,
national scale.
Information
is kept by multiple federal and state agencies and private vendors but there is
no single database where all the information can be found. Examples of how the National Mortgage Database can support
the
agencies' work include:
-
Monitoring loan performance so policy makers can
better understand how various loan products are being used and how they are
performing.
-
Conducting surveys to better
understand consumer decision making and experiences across a range of topics
such as mortgage shopping or distressed homeownership.
-
Monitoring volume and performance of new
products in the marketplace to help regulators identify potential problems or
new risks
-
Permitting analysis
of how many homeowners have more than one mortgage and how they are performing.
-
Understanding the
impact
of
consumers' debt burden from data included about borrowers' other debt
obligations.
FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco
said "This partnership between FHFA and CFPB will create a unique resource that
benefits
the government and
public
as we seek to
answer important
questions about
how the housing finance market
is evolving
and changing. This
collaborative effort is a great
way
to pool expertise and
leverage resources for
the
benefit of regulators
and the public."
"In order to
understand what is
going
on in the mortgage marketplace
and develop appropriate
consumer
protections, we must
have
the best facts and
data," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "This
database will be a valuable tool for regulators and
researchers
and we look forward
to
partnering with FHFA on this important work."