VT Census Case Studies : Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

Created by molfe on 11 Aug 2015

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

The CRA requires that each insured depository institution's record in helping meet the credit needs of its entire community be evaluated periodically. That record is taken into account in considering an institution's application for deposit facilities, including mergers and acquisitions

Data includes information on small business loans and other types of loans for community investment.

Link: http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/default.htm

Date Inventory Completed: 7/11/2015

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council is a U.S. government interagency group who prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions". It also oversees real estate appraisal in the United States.

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

Data collected for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), s intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate.

  • Who else uses the data?

Researchers, businesses

  • Who do they sell the data to?

Free


Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Operator entry

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Administrative data

  • If designed, who created the questions?

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

Reports from banking institutions. “All institutions regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision that meet the asset size threshold are subject to data collection and reporting requirements.”

Data is entered using a free Data Entry Software, which includes editing features to help you verify and analyze the accuracy of the data.


Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Community improvement loans

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

1996-2013

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

Yes

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

Not stated


Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Loans in the US intended for community improvement


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

Downloaded in excel or pdf format from website

  • Is it open data?

Yes

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

None stated

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Free

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? YES

Full Inventory

Description

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

Time series

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

Census tract


Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?

No

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

Yes

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

Yes

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/pdf/13FlatDiscSpecs.pdf (availble for each year)


Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source?

In flat files, the loan

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

Unknown

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

  • What was the coverage?

Unknown


Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they? 

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

Unknown


Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Unknown

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

CRA edits are divided into three edit types: Syntactical(S), Validity(V) and Quality (Q). Each type represents the severity of the error and should be thoroughly understood to ensure that the data are accurate and reported in their entirety. The CRA edits have been developed to ensure an error-free submission of the CRA data that are required to be reported by the regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act.

For more information on edits, see: http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/edits_quickref.htm

 

Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

Not stated

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process? If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source? Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Unknown


Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

Not stated (possibly in mortgage paperwork)

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 

None stated

  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

None stated

 

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? (e.g., impact of policies, predictors of student success)

"The CRA reports provide information regarding small business, small farm, and community development lending activity. The reports can be used along with the FFIEC census data for data analysis purposes."

  • Include any links to research if provided:

http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/online_rpts.htm

  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

 

Gaps/Concerns

  • Feasibility - can all jurisdiction levels provide the data (if applicable)?
  • Data ownership - a lack of clarity in legal guidance stemming from a lack of clarity with who owns digital data?
  • Data collection authority - what data is reasonably private and what constitutes unwarranted intrusion?
  • Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: