SOUTH BRONX / DC, Dec 1 – The Federal Reserve Board on December 1 denied a petition that the Fed ensure public access to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data currently maintained by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as the CFPB is said to be not only shrinking but closing.
Fair Finance Watch filed three petitions in this regard and on December 1 the Federal Reserve Board replied that it is up to the FFIEC, though it acknowledges the concern. Cold comfort - this as the Federal Reserve on November 28-29 turned back FFW's comments on a pending bank merger, occasioning another request.
Later on December 1, FFW petitioned the FFIEC, via the FDIC and NCUA:
Fair Finance Watch and Inner City Press are writing to petition the FFIEC 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 and 2025 data. Earlier today FFW received from the Federal Reserve Board a denial (or buck-passing) of its three petitions for rulemaking, each submitted as the inability of the CFPB to do it became more acute. The FRB writes, "the FFIEC, rather than the Board, has the statutory duty to implement a system to aggregate, and facilitate public access to, HMDA data.2 See 12 U.S.C. §§ 2803(f), 2809(a)... the CFPB provides staff and technology resources to the FFIEC so that it may fulfill its statutory obligations related to public access to HMDA data. See 12 U.S.C. § 2809(b)." So this emergency petition, and the three below, are now directed to the FFIEC.
The threat to entirely close CFPB is sharply drawn, in a CFPB court filing" "the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or the “Bureau”) anticipates exhausting its currently available funds in early 2026." See DDC Case No. 1:25-cv-00381-ABJ, Dkt. 145 and Exh. A at 20.
So it is absolutely imperative that actions be taken to ensure continued public access to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Please immediately acknowledge receipt of these re-directed petitions, and take action on them
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