WASHINGTON (12/17/15)--A new tool launched by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Wednesday will help creditors determine which properties are located in rural or underserved areas. Financial institutions in rural or underserved areas are eligible for exemptions from various requirements.

Creditors using the tool can select a year (the year in which the creditor extended the loan) and enter an address (one at a time or multiples at a time), and will receive a determination on the rural or underserved status of the property for the year in question.

The results will be displayed on the Web and can be printed or downloaded as a PDF or comma-separated values (CSV) file.

Regulation Z, which covers small creditors, as well as rural and underserved areas under the Truth in Lending Act, states that creditors may rely on the CFPB’s tool to provide a safe harbor determination that a property is located in a rural or underserved area.

However, the tool is not applicable to the exemption from the requirement for an additional appraisal that is required from “rural counties” as opposed to “rural areas.”

According to the CFPB, the data transmitted through the tool should not contain any personal or identifying information.