Email for DMDC Direct Capability

Posted By: CULady

Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/19/16 05:37 PM

Had an article from CUNA today (http://news.cuna.org/articles/109133) that said if your financial institution wants to use the DMDC database to identify covered members, you would need to send an email to the MLA help desk by February 1st. We tried to send the email to the listed email (dodhra.dodc-mb.dmdc.mbx.mla@mail.mil) and got the email returned saying that the delivery had failed.

I reached out to CUNA to double check the email address, but in the mean time was wondering if anyone else had tried this or had even heard of this...?

Many thanks!
Posted By: Tesla

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 12:13 AM

Any luck on this?
Posted By: ComplyGuy

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 02:25 PM

Got an email from ABA this morning saying the same thing, but saying that the email that the DOD gave yesterday had a typo. BOL sent out an email on it this morning with what looks like the same address you put in your post.

On a related note, it says they will only be granting access to select institutions. Institutions that don't get access can still get info from the DMDC, but it will have a 24 hour turnaround.
Posted By: John Burnett

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 02:59 PM

The address in our Briefing this morning is the one sent out by Nessa Feddis of the ABA today as a correction.
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 04:40 PM

I received an email back from CUNA with the corrected email of: dodhra.dodc-mb.dmdc.mbx.mla@mail.mil

To me it looks the exact same, but we sent an email to that and it was not returned. I have not yet heard if there was any response.

Just curious, is there a link to the ABA email/article? I would be interested in reading it.
Posted By: SallyGirl

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 07:01 PM

Trying to decide whether to "sign-up" for direct access to the DMDC database before Feb. 1 or use the Military Lending Act website that is open to the public (no login required) for single record requests. We currently use the public site for SCRA. I understand there will be a 24-hour turn around when using the public site. My concern is how to determine covered borrower status for a parent or parent-in-law and still get the safe harbor if CRAs don't work something out with the DOD.

Appreciate any thoughts on this.
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 09:16 PM

Originally Posted By SallyGirl
My concern is how to determine covered borrower status for a parent or parent-in-law and still get the safe harbor if CRAs don't work something out with the DOD.

Parent or in laws? As a general rule, they would not be a covered borrower. It is just the military member and their dependents. Dependents include spouse and children. The only way they would be covered is if the military member is supporting them and then they could be considered a dependent. The military has records of everyone considered a dependent under each military member.

And to achieve safe harbor it says we have to check the DCDM or the credit report. That to me says that the credit reporting agencies and the DCDM will be up to speed with the MLA by 10/3/16.
Posted By: ComplyGuy

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/21/16 09:40 PM

Last I heard is that credit reporting agencies will be ready, but there will be an extra cost associated.
Posted By: rachelchri

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/26/16 05:10 PM

Is there a fee associated with getting direct access to the database? Also, would each individual loan officer have to e-mail the address provided, or a single contact within the Bank?
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/26/16 05:28 PM

I haven't seen anything about a fee from the DMDC.

From what I can tell, just one email from the bank.

We got an email back from them and they have a questionnaire that we need to fill out and send back. I think they are just gathering information to see how many people want access and how many records each institution will be requesting per day. I don't know that they have figured out how this will all work yet either.
Posted By: rachelchri

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/26/16 05:33 PM

Thank you CULady for the quick response!
Posted By: Always In Training

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/27/16 10:59 PM

This is from the email I got when I got the questionnaire email referenced from CULady...
So, maybe the right hand doesn't know what the left hand has planned for Oct this year???? #confused

______________________
As an alternative to using the direct connection, MLA covered borrower checks can be performed using DMDC's MLA Website at:

https://mla.dmdc.osd.mil

The MLA Website, available right now, allows users to conduct a covered borrower check either on a single individual in real time, or on a number of individuals using a batch process. You can conduct a covered borrower check on a single individual by inputting a name, date of birth, and Social Security Number. This Single Record Request gives an immediate response, and no registration is necessary to perform a covered borrower check on a single individual.

The MLA Website also allows users to perform batch checks for MLA covered borrowers. Users can self-register an account with the MLA Website's Multiple Record Request capability, which can be used to perform covered borrower checks in batches of up to 250,000 individuals at a time. Users may submit up to 50 such batches per day for a total search capability of up to 12.5 million individuals each day. Multiple Record Requests are processed within 24 hours, and usually much faster.

Please see the MLA Website's Users Guide, available at the website, for more information on how to conduct a Single Record Request or Multiple Record Request, and look for more information on DMDC's direct connection capability for performing MLA covered borrower checks from this e-mail address soon.
Posted By: Jade'sFire

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 01/28/16 03:25 PM

Has anyone else gone to the link that is provided in step 2? I went to this webpage to see if it would help me understand the "direct access" and now I just have more questions. Is this process all about having a more secure way of receiving these certificates? (I wish they would just spell this out at a 5th grade level for me smile Ha!!)

Thank you for contacting the DMDC MLA Help Desk. This message serves as confirmation of your interest in using DMDC's direct connection interface for performing covered borrower checks against DMDC's MLA database. Please take these preliminary steps:

1. Please fill out the attached questionnaire so that DMDC can get an idea of how you will use the direct connection. Once completed, please reply to this e-mail and attach the completed questionnaire. DMDC will prioritize your request to use the direct connection once we receive your completed questionnaire.
2. Please read about the process of obtaining a DoD-approved certificate using the External Certification Authority Program (http://iase.disa.mil/pki/eca/Pages/index.aspx).
Posted By: rlcarey

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/01/16 03:51 PM

Deadline extended:

http://bankingjournal.aba.com/2016/01/ab...itary-database/
Posted By: rachelchri

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/01/16 06:30 PM

What is the turnaround time for a response? I e-mailed them last tuesday and haven't heard back yet. Just wondering what everyone else experienced.

Thanks!
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/01/16 06:37 PM

We sent ours on 1/19 and we heard back by 1/25. But they might be experiencing a higher volume the closer they got to the first deadline of 2/1.
Posted By: okcowgirl

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 03:23 PM

I went to the alternate DMDC's MLA website (https://mla.dmdc.osd.mil) to do a check and the result was immediate.

Will someone please explain the advantage to signing up for the direct access to the DMDC database before Feb. 15 verses using the alternate Military Lending Act website that is open to the public (no login required) for single record requests. Trying to get the pro's and con's.
Posted By: Jade'sFire

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 04:08 PM

My only thought is that they expect the (https://mla.dmdc.osd.mil) website to not be able to handle the increase in request. That is why they are asking for Banks to obtain the DOD-approved certificate using the External Certification Authority Program (http://iase.disa.mil/pki/eca/Pages/index.aspx)
Posted By: CompliantOkie

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 04:22 PM

Agree with Jade. The number of covered borrowers and covered loans are both increasing so I'm betting the MLA website would not be able to handle the traffic. Also because of who the covered borrowers are i.e. wider definition of dependents, I personally think the DMDC must be querying a database from the military that lists ALL dependents, like the DEERS system.
Posted By: raitchjay

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 04:26 PM

So, let me see if i understand this (bear with me): the website that is good and quick will be overloaded come October, so they want us to sign up for the other website that can handle more traffic. But not every bank that applies for access to that website will be granted access (i just filled out their questionnaire which wanted to know how many customers we have, how many times we anticipate using it, etc.); so some banks (smaller banks i'd guess) will be shut out of the new website, and be stuck using a website that may not work because it's overloaded with requests?
Posted By: Jade'sFire

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 04:34 PM

Has anyone heard if the DOD will grant direct access to vendors? Making this an automated function within your loan application system. That would help some of the smaller lending institutions, if they cant qualify for direct access.
Posted By: CompliantOkie

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 04:40 PM

I think there are so many issues (bugs) to work out, while I'm not counting on a delay, it wouldn't surprise me! It's ridiculous to deny access to safe harbor to some banks based on customer base.
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 06:36 PM

I think one of the advantages for the DMDC is being able to do batches and get an immediate result, unlike the MLA website where you can do batch reports, but it can be a 24 hour delay. Not sure yet of course, but that was my interpretation.

Jade - I am not sure if they will allow vendors access, but that sure would be nice to have it tie into your loan operating system!
Posted By: ccman

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/02/16 07:47 PM

Jade, I fired off a request and got an immediate response to complete the short questionnaire and 2nd read about the ECAP.
I attempted to access the alternative site, mla.dmc.osd.mil and got a security message!

Since I am not the IT guy, should we forward the email response back to IT to gain access to the ECAP?

We are a small rural lender and have very few, if any, military personnel loans. I am sure we will not meet the volume they
are looking for using the direct connection. The MLA just adds another layer to the onion unnecessarily. thanks.
Posted By: Farm Girl

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 04:03 PM

We also are a small rural bank but I did ask for the direct connection to the website. I got the same email/response Always In Training received and then I was really confused. I contacted the MLA Helpdesk and asked exactly what the benefit was of using the DMDC's direct connection versus using the DMDC's MLA website. I told them we were a small bank and would not have many requests per day. I told them it was my understand that both websites provide an immediate response and both provide a response that is current for that day. This is the response I received:

The direct connection will be a web service for server-to-server requests for MLA status. More details on the technical details of the web service will be available as it becomes ready for use. DMDC anticipates this will be some time in the spring of 2016. Primarily it is intended to allow the financial institution to run larger batches of requests with a much shorter turnaround time and without the need to go through the present website.

I then asked this question: So if we just go to the MLA website and enter each applicant separately, will we get the exact same response from that website that we would get if we used the direct connection website? The response back from them was "That is accurate".

Therefore, I'm thinking my bank doesn't even need to bother requesting the direct connection because it appears to be for the use of large banks to run batches of requests and get a quicker response.

Does anyone else have any different thoughts?? Thank you in advance
Posted By: Farm Girl

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 04:06 PM

One other thing I forgot to mention is that if you are currently using the SCRA website to check military status, you will need to discontinue that because it doesn't have the dependent information.
Posted By: swiggles

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 07:09 PM

Quote:
We got an email back from them and they have a questionnaire that we need to fill out and send back. I think they are just gathering information to see how many people want access and how many records each institution will be requesting per day. I don't know that they have figured out how this will all work yet either.


I don't understand what they are asking in the questionnaire. Any ideas about how to answer these???

1. How many unique customers does your institution currently have?

2. How many applications for credit does your institution receive each day?

--for question 1...is this how many total consumer loans, or how many "covered" loans we currently have on our books.
--for question 2....how many consumer loan applications per day, or how many applications for covered loans?

And if we're not anticipating every doing a "batch" inquiry, then the answer to question 3.a. would be the same answer as for question 2.

a. How many real-time single MLA covered borrower checks does your institution anticipate conducting each day?
Posted By: VMack

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 07:10 PM

Farm Girl, can you tell me where to find more information about the site? I haven't been able to find much of anything. The user manual pulls up a blank one page document, the FAQs are non-existent and my IT support person says the website's security certificate cannot be verified properly. confused
How do we know what information can be found on the site?
Posted By: Kathleen O. Blanchard

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 07:14 PM

IT needs to click through the certificate message and read about the military security that is used. The security is all explained once you click through.
Posted By: VMack

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 07:18 PM

Thank you, Kathleen. We did click through and see the site. But, the manual and FAQs are blank. Are you saying it is because of something IT needs to do?
Posted By: ahkcompliance

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 09:10 PM

swiggles---I am with you, not sure how to answer the questions.
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 09:16 PM

I do not think they are asking about covered borrowers. At this point it would be hard for anyone to know for sure how many there would be since we have not yet had to do major tracking of military members and their dependents.
Ditto for covered loans. I think that question is asking how many loans apps do you have flowing through on any given day.

That's how we answered them anyway.
Posted By: VMack

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 09:19 PM

CULady, how did you answer the question " How many unique customers does your institution currently have?"
Posted By: raitchjay

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 09:26 PM

I answered them like CULady i think.....unique customers i took to translate (roughly) to how many CIFs we had and i ballparked a guess (what else can you do? every day is different) on how many applications we take a day. For the questions about batch uploads, i indicated it would probably not apply to us.
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/03/16 09:27 PM

The number of individual members that we have. I think the question is trying to say that they don't want you counting Joe Smith 4 times if he has 4 accounts.
Posted By: HMS Pippii

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 02/09/16 04:27 PM

I've been pondering the number of accounts that they can process per day, per bank if you submit batch files. It's over 12 million total requests per day. Just confirming we all agree there's no requirement to do any type of ongoing scrub of our credit card accounts looking for military personnel and their dependents. I haven't seen anything that appears to require verification after the account has been opened. The questionnaire from DMDC gives the example of checking MLA status for pre-approved offers of credit.
Posted By: Always In Training

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/08/16 09:08 PM

Got our "final" decision from the DOD. They won't let us have access. So, no safe harbour, right? The current way to check isn't a safe harbour in October, right?
Posted By: ahkcompliance

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/12/16 01:51 PM

I also heard back of the decision and we don't have access either.

I haven't heard anything from Equifax so hopefully there is a code on the credit report we can rely on.
Posted By: rachelchri

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/12/16 02:09 PM

Is anyone using TransUnion as their 3rd Party CRA? If so, how will they be handling this change?
Posted By: Tesla

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/12/16 02:43 PM

We were not granted access either. My understanding is our options are the MLA website search and via a credit reporting vendor. We use Experian and Transunion. At this point, neither has said anything more than they are looking into it.
Posted By: ComplyGuy

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/13/16 04:08 PM

We were denied as well, but plan on using the single record request on the DOD website. We do about 1 covered loan per day, so hopefully it won't be a problem.
Posted By: HMS Pippii

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/15/16 04:40 PM

My info is that 15 direct connection options were approved to the following institutions:

1. ACE Cash Express, Inc.
2. Advance America
3. American Express
4. Bank of America
5. Capital One
6. Citi
7. Discover Financial Services
8. Equifax
9. Experian
10. JPMorgan Chase
11. Sallie Mae Bank
12. TD Bank
13. TransUnion
14. US Bank - pilot
15. Wells Fargo - pilot

The good news is that all 3 major credit bureaus applied and are approved. Hopefully that means they're all working on it. TransUnion is the only one giving us any info but we haven't gotten any decent updates from them other than "testing should be ready at a date to be determined..." smirk
Posted By: CULady

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/18/16 09:24 PM

Interesting. I would have thought USAA or Navy FCU would have made the cut.

We use Transunion and they have said they are working on it. The information I have shows the information will be in the Special Messages section where it will say one of the following:

*** MILITARY LENDING ACT SEARCH: NO MATCH FOUND ***
*** MILITARY LENDING ACT SEARCH: MATCH FOUND ***

No word on when though. They did say it will be an add-on product, but pricing is yet to be determined as well.
Posted By: Andy_Z

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/22/16 02:01 PM

The three CRAs are in a test environment now, or will be soon. Experian is and the the plan is to bring on one at a time. Once contracts are agreed to the CRAs will be able to get live data. At that point it is assumed the CRAs will be able to discuss pricing with you, their clients.

The CRAs originally were not going to need this access because it was a given they'd get direct access. But the DoD said they couldn't dump the minor dependent data to the CRA and that is why the CRAs are on this list. If a minor dependents info is requested, the CRA won't have it automatically, it will have to query the database too, on an as needed basis.

Now, I hear several banks who are very nervous about how they'll get minor dependent data. Since this is MLA and it's for new loans, I don't see dependent data for minors as critical since in all my years on the loan desk I only recall making 1 loan to a minor, and that was with his dad and at his dads request so the son would develop credit, and it was for the son's car. Am I missing something?
Posted By: Andy_Z

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/22/16 02:03 PM

I should add the approved, and denied lenders have supposedly all been notified. We weren't sure if getting on that list for direct access would provide a later benefit or not knowing the DMDC was looking for volume here. It doesn't appear they have any planned use.
Posted By: raitchjay

Re: Email for DMDC Direct Capability - 04/22/16 02:24 PM

I haven't received an email saying either yay or nay (but i assume the answer is nay).