I am in the process of a HMDA data integrity audit to ensure data accuracy before submission, and came across a loan which was HMDA reportable, and the HMDA was properly completed. My problem is this, there was no application taken, so I have no way by looking at the file to verify the application date, income or ethnicity, race and sex information. How would you handle this?

(Please don't bash me about my lending department and underwriting etc. that is another issue entirely )

Jennifer, if there is nothing in the file that indicates what income figure the loan officer used in making the credit decision you would report your income as NA.

The file is documented stating the purpose of the loan, so I know it is a HMDA reportable transaction and all the necessary data was completed on the HMDA data collection sheet. The loan officer states that this is a well known customer to him and he asked the customer for his income and documented it on the HMDA data collection sheet. Race and gender were completed on his visual observation.

I shouldn't have used "properly" completed, just completed as necessary by the regulation with all required information

This might also apply as would internal policy/procedures as to what constitutes a completed application

Regulation B

Sec. 202.4 General rules.

(c) Written applications. A creditor shall take written applications for the dwelling-related types of credit covered by §202.13(a).

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):

Thanks Bliss, I can see we have a Reg B violation, but right now I am more concerned with the data that I have and can I use it as it stands? Will it pass data integrity or is it going to cause enough of a problem that we have to start over collecting 2005 data. We will be addressing this going forward, for certain!

I feel your pain, Jen. Personally I'd log what you have, give the LO a friendly whack upside the head, and move on.

I'd just document that you did what you could with what you had and addressed the issue with the LO. That's really all you can do, IMHO.

You didn't give the purpose of the loan so you may not have a Reg. B problem. Reg. B only requires a written application where the loan request is to purchase or refinance the purchase of the applicant's primary residence and will be secured by that residence. That is the only time that any regulation requires a written application.

A refinancing under Reg. B does not carry the same definition as Reg. C. If the proceeds from the refinancing are used for any purpose other than refinancing the purchase transaction then it is not a refinancing for Reg. B monitoring purposes.

From the Commentary:

Transactions not covered. The information-collection requirements of this section apply to applications for credit primarily for the purchase or refinancing of a dwelling that is or will become the applicant's principal residence. Therefore, applications for credit secured by the applicant's principal residence but made primarily for a purpose other than the purchase or refinancing of the principal residence (such as loans for home improvement and debt consolidation) are not subject to the information-collection requirements. An application for an open-end home equity line of credit is not subject to this section unless it is readily apparent to the creditor when the application is taken that the primary purpose of the line is for the purchase or refinancing of a principal dwelling.


As for as documenting your dates and income, use the dates and income documented in the credit memo by the LO.

Thanks Dan....that commentary will help a lot. After taking the weekend to think about it. I am going to move forward, documenting what I did to remedy these and submit. I will write it up explaining that the process will be changing going forward and then I'll give the loan officer a black eye to prove I got the point accross! (Just kidding with the last part.) Thanks for everyone's help and input.