OCC Required Information, Mortgage Loans

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Question:

I'm in the process of completing an audit of the Fair Housing Act for a national bank. The OCC requires that "each bank shall attempt to obtain all of the information below." It then goes on to require a considerable amount of information in excess of the traditional government monitoring information (race, ethnicity, sex, marital status, and age). Is all of this information required to be on the application? Will the information (such as amount requested, interest rate requested, # of months to maturity, and proposed monthly payment) being in the loan file on some other document suffice? Also, does the fact that the application is partially completed suffice for compliance with the regulation for "attempting to obtain" the information?

Answer:

The items you are mentioning fall under the Fair Housing Home Loan Data System, 12 CFR 27.3(b)(i)-(xx) and 27.3(c)(2)-(5). My experience is that it does not need to be in one place, but needs to be requested. The standard 1003 mortgage application covers this data. Additionally, the Good Faith Estimate and closing documents will as well. Examiners have quoted to me that asking for it on the application was sufficient that it was asked for. As these things go, examiners may differ from region to region.

You are in the same predicament except that you have no data at all, if it is requested. Again, being subject to Reg. C, you are required to have a notice. Rather than wait until mid-2005, if your regulators interpreted the rules in this manner, why not post it now and not worry about 1) fighting this fight and 2) having to remember to post it 15 months from now. Slightly modify the text and post the notice that you are subject to HMDA. The text modification will advise readers that data isn't yet available and done correctly, it won't require maintenance next year. "Set it and forget it." Well, until you do a signage audit anyway.

First published on BankersOnline.com 4/19/04