by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
Bronx / Federal Court, Feb 11 – When a "404: Page Not Found" message began on the homepage of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a call went out among consumer advocates to dig deeper in the site and begin downloading data before it is deleted. Fine.
But the CFPB has become the platform on which new data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act is released. Simply downloading past years' data is not enough. Where will the 2024 data go, and be available to the public? Fair Finance Watch, with Inner City Press on the FOIA, filed a petition for rulemaking and emergency mitigation with the Federal Reserve Board:
Governor Powell, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press are writing to petition the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under section 553(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act to engage in rulemaking and, most immediately, to take emergency measures to ensure public access to data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), including the 2024 data.
When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created, the hosting of HMDA data shifted from the FFIEC to CFPB website. Today February 10, 2025 the CFPB.gov website went dark. While portions of the site are as of this writing still available, it is foreseeable that the HMDA data site may be taken down. The Community Reinvestment Act, among other banking laws, is largely enforced by use and analysis of HMDA data. It is imperative that public access to HMDA data remain.
The FRB should begin a process to ensure access to HMDA data, on FFIEC or the FRB's own website - by rulemaking, if necessary long term, but immediate on an interim basis, if necessary mirroring the CFPB cite as long as it remains under threat.
This petition concerning the continued public access to HMDA data is also made with reference to Section 553(e) of the APA, and we respectfully request a response.
Watch this site. Others like NCRC are advocating. We aim to have more from DC
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