VT Census Case Studies : Home Mortgage Disclosure Act

Created by saa795, last modified by molfe on 02 Jan 2016

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act website allows someone to download data concerning loans (covered by the “Home Mortgage Disclosure Act”) based on Census Tract Level (some of the data sets are based on Tract level) and/or data concerning loans based on “institution” (banks).  For banks, the variables in one of these reports include “Home purchase,” “refinance,” and “home improvement” loans (which can then be split up into “first time lender” and “junior lender”).  For the one of the tract level data sets, data is collected on “loans originated,” “applications denied,” “applications withdrawn,” “applications approved, not accepted,” and “files closed for incompleteness.”  Furthermore, these categories for each tract are further broken down into types of loans, including “conventional,” “refinancing,” “home improvement,” “families,” and “FHA, FSA/RHS & VA.”  The websites have even more data sets that can be accessed, which include data sets about "multi-family loan denials," "refinancing by tract based on income," etc.

Census and demographic data is added to this data: https://www.ffiec.gov/censusproducts.htm

HMDA data provide information regarding home mortgage lending activity.

PMIC data contain the same variables as the HMDA data, but are voluntarily reported by private mortgage insurance companies. 

Can download data from http://www.consumerfinance.gov/hmda/, but this data is incomplete and does not have financial information. Must download from the HMDA website via the software.


Link: 

General Website: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/

Date Inventory Completed: 6/4/2015

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 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act website is actually “maintained by” the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which is a “formal interagency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and to make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions. In 2006, the State Liaison Committee (SLC) was added to the Council as a voting member.”

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

It seems the FFIEC collects the data in order to carry out its duty to “prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions.”  It would use the data to inform its decisions about these “principles, standards, and report forms.”

  • Who else uses the data?

Policy-makers, researchers, and potentially businesses

  • Who do they sell the data to?

They do not sell the data; you may have to pay if you wanted a CD copy of the data.


Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Data comes from forms that the various lending agencies have to fill out and “submit” to FFIEC.

See: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/guide.htm

  • What is the type of data collected?

Administrative data

  • If designed, who created the questions? 

Not Applicable

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

The raw source consists of the forms the various institutions have to fill out that go to the FFIEC.    


Description

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

Home loans

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

Via the search links provided above, one can get data from 1999-2013.  Older data might be available elsewhere on the website.

  • Timeliness

    • Is data collected and available periodically?

The site is a little bit behind (since they do not have 2014 data up yet), but the data is updated for every year eventually.

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

HMDA and PMIC data generally become available by September of the year following the calendar year (CY) of the data. 


Selectivity

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

Loans in the United States from 1999 to 2013


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed?

 For complete data, must download software (Windows only) for each year to then query and download in .txt file.  CD can also be order if ordered. 

2007 to 2013: download in .txt file.  CD can also be order if ordered.

Pre 2007: completed flat files are available from the the national archives

  • Is it open data?

Yes

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

I do not believe so.

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

 If you wanted to order a CD, you might have to pay a fee.


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

Full Ineventory

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?

 Yes

  • 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?

 No

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

Glossary can be found here: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/glossary.htm

Code sheets and other information can be found here: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/hmdaflat.htm and https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/pmicflat.htm 

 

Selectivity

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

Mortgage 

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

HMDA data is required

PMIC but are voluntarily reported by private mortgage insurance companies.

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

  • What was the coverage?

 Not stated

 

Stability/Coherence

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

For information on changes in regards to quality, validity, and Syntactical) see: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/edits.htm

  • 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 (only if new companies were formed or closed or merged)


Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

The data in question are either reported in error as invalid or do not agree with an expected standard (value). The Edits should be used to ensure data validity, accuracy and integrity. Reporting institutions should review for correctness and change only if erroneous data have been reported.

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

See: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/edits.htm 

 

Accessibility

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

Unknown

  • 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?

No

 

Privacy and security

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

Not explicitly stated, but might be in mortgage paperwork

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

 For informaiotn about regulation C , see https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/RegC.htm

Disclaimer: https://www.ffiec.gov/disclaimer.htm

  • 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)

None stated

  • Include any links to research if provided:
  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

Frequently asked questions: https://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/faq.htm

 

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: