Data collection

When S. 2155 passed in May and promised a partial exemption from the collection of certain data, everyone was left to wonder which data points would be covered by the partial exemption and which would still be required to be reported.

The bureau addressed this in the Aug. 30, 2018, rule and provided a list of the 26 data points eligible for the exemption and the remaining 22 data points that are still required for all HMDA reporters.

Credit unions that do not meet the 500-loan threshold and qualify for the partial exemption will report fewer data points than those that do not qualify for the exemption.

Voluntary reporting

The rule also states that optional voluntary reporting of the expanded data points covered by the partial exemption is permissible, provided that the credit union will submit data for an entire data point when data are reported for any data field within that data point.

This will ease the compliance burden for institutions whose loan volume thresholds may fluctuate from year to year.

While it may be easier from a compliance standpoint to continue to report data in a given year even if your credit union qualifies for the exemption, keep in mind that you can still be held accountable for any discrepancies in the data that you report.

Universal Loan Identifier

The last big change in this rule pertains to the Universal Loan Identifier (ULI). Insured credit unions are not required to report a ULI for loans that are partially exempt (although the rule states that credit unions may still voluntarily report the ULI if they prefer).

But credit unions that qualify for the partial exemption must still provide information so each loan and application they report is identifiable for HMDA purposes. This allows the credit union to report the loan identifier without requiring it to obtain the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) as part of the ULI if the credit union qualifies for the partial exemption.

As a result, the August 2018 final rule has amended the ULI requirement to only require a “non-universal loan identifier” that doesn’t have to be unique within the industry. That means it doesn’t have to contain an LEI.

However, the non-universal loan identifier does have its own requirements. For any partially exempt loan or application for which the credit union does not report a ULI, the non-universal loan identifier:

• *May be composed of up to 22 characters.
• *May be composed of  letters, numerals, or a combination thereof.
• *Must be unique within the credit union.
• *Must not include information that could be used to correctly identify the applicant or borrower.

“The year of HMDA”—as 2018 is known—has been big for credit union compliance. As the year comes to a close, hopefully credit unions can rest a bit easier knowing we finally have some clarity with respect to the new HMDA changes.

HMDA appears to be the ever-evolving rule, and this doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon.

BCFP has stated it intends to re-open the rule for further examination again in 2019. We hope this will lead to more positive changes for credit unions in the form of less regulatory burden.

WHITNEY NICHOLAS is senior federal compliance counsel for CUNA. Contact her at 202-508-6702.