Deadline Delayed

May 6, 2002

Banks Get More Time To Implement New Disclosures


Inman News Features

The Federal Reserve Board has postponed the effective date of recent amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act from Jan. 1, 2003, to Jan. 1, 2004. The amendments expand the group of lending institutions required to file reports under the law, redefine some terminology and add additional data categories, including certain information on pricing of subprime loans.

The Fed previously announced the changes would be effective on the earlier date, but financial institutions and industry trade associations requested a postponement on the grounds that the deadline didn?t give institutions enough time to ensure compliance. Consumer and community organizations opposed postponement of the effective date.

The Fed decided that some reporting institutions, particularly the largest, wouldn?t be able to fully implement the new rules by the early deadline without jeopardizing the quality and usefulness of the data and incurring substantial additional implementation costs.

However, the Fed adopted an interim amendment that mandates the use of 2000 U.S. Census data in HMDA reporting effective Jan. 1, 2003. The Fed said in a statement that 2000 Census tracts and demographics will produce more accurate and useful data in the HMDA disclosure statements and aggregate reports than the 1990 data now in use.

Copyright: Inman News Service


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