Two powerful federal regulators have joined forces to create the first national database of residential mortgages. Information to be made available includes loan origination data, servicing statistics and market trends.
The national mortgage database, which is already under development, will be primarily utilized to support policymaking and research efforts. It will also help regulators better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends.
The database will be constructed by matching a national sampling of credit bureau files on borrowers’ mortgages and payment histories with informational files including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database, property valuation models and other data files –enabling the creation of a comprehensive overview of each home loan.
Information about the life of a mortgage from origination through servicing will include loan-level data such as the financial and credit profiles of borrowers, mortgage product and term details, and information about the properties. It will also include ongoing loan payment histories for real estate loans and other consumer debt as well as information on loan modifications, foreclosures and bankruptcies.
In addition, regulators will be able to determine how many first and second mortgages an individual borrower has outstanding and how those loans are performing.
But no personally identifiable information will be available to the public or researchers.
An announcement from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has signed an inter-agency agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to develop the database, called it “the first comprehensive repository of detailed mortgage loan information.”
The notice indicated that development of the database will be complex.
“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,” the announcement stated. “Multiple federal and state agencies as well as private vendors collect and maintain information, but there is no single database that contains all information in one place.
“The creation of the national mortgage database will be the first step in a broader strategy to help streamline data for research and policy analysis and to ensure accurate, comprehensive information is more easily accessible for monitoring the market.”
The database fulfills a requirement under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 for FHFA to conduct a monthly mortgage market survey. Monthly data will be tracked as far back as 1998.
Once development is complete, agencies will be able to conduct surveys for a better understanding of consumer decision making and their experiences with things like mortgage shopping and distressed servicing.
The regulators are expected to be able to monitor mortgage volume and loan performance — improving their ability to identify potential problems or new risks.
FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco said in the statement that the collaboration with the CFPB “is a great way to pool expertise and leverage resources.”
CFPB Director Richard Cordray called the database a “valuable tool for regulators and researchers.”
“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,” Cordray stated.
Early versions of the full dataset are expected to be completed by next year.
