My bank is not a HMDA reporting bank and in the past I have been told that if you are not a HMDA bank then you can collect monitoring on any refinance...regardless if it is a refinance of the purchase money mortgage or not. We recently had an internal exam and we were cited for this. I just want to be 100% sure before I go changing things.

Thanks!

Reg. B governs when no other reg does:

Sec. 202.13 Information for monitoring purposes.

(a) Information to be requested—(1) A creditor that receives an application for credit primarily to purchase (or to refinance a home purchase loan) a dwelling occupied or to be occupied by the applicant as a principal residence, where the extension of credit will be secured by the dwelling, shall request as part of the application the following information regarding the applicant(s):
(i) Ethnicity, using the categories Hispanic or Latino, or not Hispanic or Latino; and race, using the categories American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White;
(ii) Sex;
(iii) Marital status, using the categories married, unmarried, and separated; and (iv) Age.

(2) Dwelling means a residential structure that contains one to four units, whether or not that structure is attached to real property. The term includes, but is not limited to, an individual condominium or cooperative unit and a mobile or other manufactured home.

(b) Obtaining information. Questions regarding ethnicity, race, sex, marital status, and age may be listed, at the creditor’s option, on the application form or on a separate form that refers to the application. The applicant(s) shall be asked but not required to supply the requested information. If the applicant(s) chooses not to provide the information or any part of it, that fact shall be noted on the form. The creditor shall then also note on the form, to the extent possible, the ethnicity, race, and sex of the applicant(s) on the basis of visual observation or surname.

(c) Disclosure to applicant(s). The creditor shall inform the applicant(s) that the information regarding ethnicity, race, sex, marital status, and age is being requested by the federal government for the purpose of monitoring compliance with federal statutes that prohibit creditors from discriminating against applicants on those bases. The creditor shall also inform the applicant(s) that if the applicant(s) chooses not to provide the information, the creditor is required to note the ethnicity, race and sex on the basis of visual observation or surname.


You may also wish to look at the commentary for this section.

Banker - We had a similar issue as we are also not a HMDA bank. It was very difficult not only to get the Lenders not to collect the info but to avoid a lot of inadvertent collection of the GMI from the borrowers. Eventually, we created a rubber stamp to place on the apps and this helped the Lenders as well as the borrowers who fill out their own apps not to fill in the GMI unless appropriate.

Before we were HMDA, I used this simple approach. You only collect GMI on purchases and refi's of original purchase money...period. That's about as simple as it gets.