What Is The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act?
The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, or HMDA, is a piece of legislation passed in 1975 that requires lenders to report public loan data. The public data is used to ensure that lending institutions are meeting the requirements of the law and meeting the needs of their housing communities.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) compiles the data from reporting institutions and that data is used to determine trends in lending. Tables are created for each Metropolitan Statistical Area. You can find this data on the FFIEC website.
As an example, the FFIEC website offers a table showing reasons for refinance denials. While this information doesn’t show specifics regarding individual cases, it could shed some light on general trends regarding lending habits and that could help you in your negotiations with specific lenders or in cases of litigation where lender violations are an issue.
The FFIEC website is a great place for additional research in pursuing the rights of homeowners.