Is our bank required to complete a HMDA loan/application register (LAR) if we originated fewer than 25 closed-end mortgage loans and fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit in the preceding two calendar years? Will a spreadsheet documenting the number of closed-end mortgage loans and open-end lines of credit originated per month be sufficient to verify that we originated fewer than 25 closed-end mortgage loans and fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit in those years?

Your bank is not required to complete and submit an LAR this year if it originated fewer than 25 closed-end mortgage loans and fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit in either of the two preceding calendar years. Your bank also would not be subject to HMDA’s reporting requirements if it does not meet the HMDA definition of a “financial institution” as discussed below.

We believe that maintaining a spreadsheet would be an appropriate method for verifying the number of closed-end loans and open-end lines of credit that your bank originates in a calendar year.

A depository institution is considered a “financial institution” subject to the HMDA reporting requirements if it: (1) exceeds the annual asset threshold as of December 31 for the preceding year ($46 million for data collection in 2019), (2) had a home or branch office in a Metropolitan Statistical Area on the preceding December 31, (3) originated at least one home purchase loan or refinancing of a home purchase loan, secured by a first lien on a one- to four-unit dwelling in the preceding year, (4) is federally insured or regulated, and (5) originated at least 25 non-exempt closed-end mortgage loans or originated at least 500 non-exempt open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

Regulation C, 12 CFR 1003.5(a)(1)(i) (“By March 1 following the calendar year for which data are collected and recorded as required by § 1003.4, a financial institution shall submit its annual loan/application register in electronic format to the appropriate Federal agency at the address identified by such agency.”)

Regulation C, 12 CFR 1003.3(c)(11) (Regulation C does not apply to “[a] closed-end mortgage loan, if the financial institution originated fewer than 25 closed-end mortgage loans in either of the two preceding calendar years; . . .”)

Regulation C, 12 CFR 1003.3(c)(12) (Regulation C does not apply to “[a]n open-end line of credit, if the financial institution originated fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit in either of the two preceding calendar years; . . .”)

Regulation C, 12 CFR 1003.2(g) (“Financial institution means a depository financial institution or a nondepository financial institution, where: (1) Depository financial institution means a bank, savings association, or credit union that:

(i) On the preceding December 31 had assets in excess of the asset threshold established and published annually by the Bureau for coverage by the Act, . . . ;

(ii) On the preceding December 31, had a home or branch office in an MSA;

(iii) In the preceding calendar year, originated at least one home purchase loan or refinancing of a home purchase loan, secured by a first lien on a one- to four-unit dwelling;

(iv) Meets one or more of the following two criteria:

(A) The institution is federally insured or regulated; or

(B) Any loan referred to in paragraph (g)(1)(iii) of this section was insured, guaranteed, or supplemented by a Federal agency, or was intended by the institution for sale to the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; and

(v) Meets at least one of the following criteria:

(A) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 25 closed-end mortgage loans that are not excluded from this part pursuant to § 1003.3(c)(1) through (10) or (13); or

(B) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 500 open-end lines of credit that are not excluded from this part pursuant to § 1003.3(c)(1) through (10); . . .”)

Regulation C, Official Interpretations, Paragraph 2(g), Comment 2 (“For data collection in 2019, the asset-size exemption threshold is $46 million. Banks, savings associations, and credit unions with assets at or below $46 million as of December 31, 2018, are exempt from collecting data for 2019.”)

Regulation C, 12 CFR 1003.2(m)(1) (“Metropolitan Statistical Area or MSA means a Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.”)