HMDA Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Action Taken Date
The settlement or closing date for originations. For applications that did not result in an origination, the date when the action was taken or when the notice was sent to the applicant is entered. For an application that was expressly withdrawn by the applicant, either the date shown on the applicant's letter or the date you received the letter or notice is reported. For loans that an institution purchased, the date of purchase is entered.

Action Taken Type
The disposition of the loan/application.

Activity Year
The year for which the HMDA data are being collected.

Agency Code
Code to identify the supervisory/regulatory agency of the HMDA reporting institution. The agency code along with the respondent ID number is the unique combination that identifies a specific institution. The codes for each agency are:

1 - Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
2 - Federal Reserve System (FRS)
3 - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
4 - Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)
5 - National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
7 - Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Applicant Ethnicity
Ethnicity of the applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report applicant ethnicity for purchased loans. When the applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported.

Applicant Race
Race of the applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report these data for purchased loans. When the applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported.

Applicant Sex
Sex of the applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report these data for purchased loans. When the applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported.

Application Received Date
The date the application was received or the date shown on the application form. For purchased loans, "NA" for not applicable is reported.

Branch Office
For banks and thrifts, a branch office is an office approved as a branch by a supervisory agency. For credit unions, a branch office is any office where member accounts are established or loans are made, whether or not the office has been approved as a branch by a federal or state agency. A branch office does not include offices of affiliates or loan brokers, offices of the institution where loan applications are merely taken, or ATMs and other electronic terminals.

For mortgage companies and other nondepository institutions, a branch office is an office where the institution takes applications from the public for home purchase or home improvement loans or refinancings. Those institutions also are considered to have a branch office in any MSA where, in the preceding year, they received applications for, originated, or purchased five or more home purchase or home improvement loans or refinancings (whether or not they had a physical office there).

Census Tract
A census tract is a small geographic area. Census 2000 assigned census tract numbers to all areas of the U.S. and some U.S. territories and possessions. Census tract numbers are unique within a county. Institutions are required to use census tract numbers from the Census 2000 series beginning with calendar year 2003 data.

Co-applicant Ethnicity
Ethnicity of the co-applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report co-applicant ethnicity for purchased loans. When the co-applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the co-applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported. If there is no co-applicant, the numerical code for “no co-applicant” is reported.

Co-applicant Race
Race of the co-applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report co-applicant race for purchased loans. When the co-applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the co-applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported. If there is no co-applicant, the numerical code for “no co-applicant” is reported.

Co-applicant Sex
Sex of the co-applicant. This is reported for originated loans and for loan applications that do not result in an origination. Institutions may, but are not required to, report co-applicant sex for purchased loans. When the co-applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example) or when the co-applicant information is unavailable because the loan has been purchased by your institution, the numerical code for “not applicable” is reported. If there is no co-applicant, the numerical code for “no co-applicant” is reported.

County Code
A three-digit FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code that identifies the county where the property is located.

Depository Institution
A financial institution that makes loans and obtains its funds mainly through accepting deposits from the public; includes commercial banks, savings and loan associations, savings banks, and credit unions.

Dwelling
Dwelling means any residential structure, whether or not attached to real property. It includes vacation or second homes and rental properties; multifamily as well as one-to-four-family structures; individual condominium and cooperative units; and manufactured and mobile homes. It excludes recreational vehicles such as boats and campers, and transitory residences such as hotels, hospitals, and college dormitories.

FFIEC – Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (also known as the Council)
The Council was established in March 1979 to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions and to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions. The Council has five member agencies; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). The Council’s activities are supported by interagency task forces and by an advisory State Liaison Committee, comprised of five representatives of state agencies that supervise financial institutions.

The Council was given additional statutory responsibilities by section 340 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 to facilitate public access to data that depository institutions must disclose under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (HMDA) and the aggregate of annual HMDA data, by census tract, for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA).

In 1988 and 1989, coverage was expanded to include nondepository institutions in the collection and reporting of HMDA. Independent mortgage companies (nondepository institutions) that are regulated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) were required to collect and report HMDA if they met the reporting criteria. (Even though data are collected from the independent mortgage companies, HUD is not a member agency of the Council).

Geocode
Geocode refers to the combination of applicable codes for the metropolitan area, state, county and census tract. These codes indicate the location of the property to which a loan relates.

The combination for calendar years 2002 and previous was MSA/state/county/census tract-Block Numbering Area (BNA). The combination for calendar year 2003 was MA/state/county/census tract (BNAs were removed). Beginning with calendar year 2004 data, the combination is MSA-MD/state/county/census tract.

Gross Annual Income
The income reported is the total gross annual income an institution relied upon in making the credit decision.

"NA" is used 1) when an institution does not ask for the applicant's income or rely on it in the credit decision, 2) the loan application is for a multifamily dwelling, 3) the applicant is not a natural person (a business, corporation or partnership, for example), or 4) the applicant information is unavailable because the loan was purchased by your institution. "NA" is also used for loans to an institution's employees to protect their privacy.

HOEPA – Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act
Lenders are required to report whether a loan is subject to the provisions of the HOEPA. HOEPA, enacted as part of the Truth in Lending Act, imposes substantive limitations and additional disclosures on certain types of home mortgage loans with rates or fees above a certain percentage or amount. For more information about HOEPA, see the Board’s Regulation Z, 12 CFR part 226, sections 31, 32 and 34. There is also additional questions regarding HOEPA in the HMDA Price Data Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of the following link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/bcreg/2006/20060403/attachment.pdf

Home Improvement Loan
A home improvement loan is (a) any dwelling-secured loan to be used, at least in part, for repairing, rehabilitating, remodeling, or improving a dwelling or the real property on which the dwelling is located, and (b) any non-dwelling-secured loan (i) that is to be used, at least in part, for one or more of those purposes and (ii) that is classified as a home improvement loan by the institution.

Home Purchase Loan
A home purchase loan is any loan secured by and made for the purpose of purchasing a dwelling. See the definition of “dwelling.”

Loan Application Number
A unique identifier (up to 25 characters long) that can be used to retrieve the particular loan application to which the entry relates. It is recommended that institutions do not use applicants' names or social security numbers to ensure the privacy of the applicant or borrower.

LAR – Loan Application Register (also known as the HMDA-LAR, the LAR, or the Register)
The term LAR refers to the loan application register format that has been prescribed for reporting HMDA data. Computer-generated reports must conform to the format of the LAR.

Lien Status
For HMDA reporting purposes, lenders are required to report lien status for loans they originate and applications that do not result in originations (Codes 1 through 3 are used for these loans; Code 4 is used for purchased loans). Lien status is determined by reference to the best information readily available to the lender at the time final action is taken and to the lender’s own procedures. Lien status aids in the interpretation of price data. For more information on lien status, see the HMDA Price Data Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of the following link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/bcreg/2006/20060403/attachment.pdf

Loan Purpose
Indicates whether the purpose of the loan or application was for home purchase, home improvement, or refinancing. If the loan falls into more than one of the three categories, report the loan under just one category according to the following rule. If the loan is a home purchase loan, report it as such even if it is also a home improvement loan and/or refinancing; if the loan is not a home purchase loan but is a home improvement loan and a refinancing, report it as a home improvement loan.

Loan Type
Indicates whether the loan granted, applied for, or purchased was conventional, government-guaranteed, or government-insured.

MD – Metropolitan Division
A metropolitan division is a subset of an MSA having a single core with a population of 2.5 million or more. For reporting and disclosure purposes of HMDA, an MD is the relevant geography, not the MSA of which it is a division.

MSA – Metropolitan Statistical Area
For purposes of HMDA, the term is interchangeable with “metropolitan area.” The underlying concept of an MSA is that of a core area containing a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. MSAs are composed of entire counties or county equivalents. Every MSA has at least one urbanized area with a population of 50,000 or more.

MSA/MD – Metropolitan Statistical Area/Metropolitan Division
An area that has at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. If the specified criteria are met, a metropolitan statistical area containing a single core with a population of 2.5 million or more may be subdivided to form smaller groupings of counties referred to as metropolitan divisions. This is a five-digit code defined by the Office of Management and Budget. Those properties located outside of an MSA/MD should be coded as "NA" for not applicable.

Nondepository Institution
For-profit mortgage lending institutions (other than banks, savings associations, and credit unions). These institutions do not take deposits.

Occupancy
Indicates whether the property to which the loan application relates will be the borrower's principal dwelling. For multifamily dwellings (housing five or more families), and any dwellings located outside MSA/MDs, or in MSA/MDs where an institution does not have home or branch offices, an institution may either enter the code for not applicable or the code for the actual occupancy status.

For purchased loans, use code 1 (owner-occupied as a principal dwelling) unless the loan documents or application indicate that the property will not be owner-occupied as a principal residence.

For second homes or vacation homes, as well as for rental properties, use code 2 (not owner-occupied as a principal dwelling).

If a loan relates to multiple properties, the institution reports the owner-occupancy status of the property for which property location is being reported.

Panel – HMDA Reporter Panel Listing
The reporter panel listing is the universe of all institutions that reported under HMDA. A separate panel exists for each reporting year.

Property Type
Indicates whether the loan or application was for a one-to-four-family dwelling (other than manufactured housing), manufactured housing, or multifamily dwelling.

For loans on individual condominium or cooperative units, use code 1 (one-to-four-family dwelling (other than manufactured housing). In addition, if you cannot determine (despite reasonable efforts to find out) whether the loan or application relates to a manufactured home, use code 1.

Quality Edits
The data in question do not agree with an expected standard (value). Review for correctness and change only if erroneous data has been reported. An example is reported income that is less than or equal to $9 thousand. The letter ‘Q’ precedes the error numbers.

(It is important that you do an initial review of the data containing quality edits. If, after the review, you find that the data are reported correctly or you change the data because the data are reported incorrectly and the quality edit still remains on the data, those quality edit(s) will remain on succeeding edit reports).

Rate Spread
The price data take the form of a "rate spread." Lenders must report the spread (difference) between the annual percentage rate (APR) on a loan and the rate on Treasury securities of comparable maturity - but only for loans with spreads above designated thresholds. So rate spreads are reported for some, but not all, reported home loans. The rate spread, along with Lien Status and HOEPA help interpret the pricing data. For more information about the Rate Spread, see the HMDA Price Data Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of the following link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/bcreg/2006/20060403/attachment.pdf. Also, see the Rate Spread Calculator link at http://www.ffiec.gov/ratespread/default.aspx for assistance in generating the rate spread and the HELP section of this link http://www.ffiec.gov/ratespread/Help.aspx#6 for additional assistance, such as when is the "Rate Spread Equal to NA."

Reasons for Denial
These fields identify why an application was denied. As many as three reasons may be reported. Recording reasons for denial is optional, except for institutions supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Refinancing
Refinancing is any dwelling-secured loan that replaces and satisfies another dwelling-secured loan to the same borrower. The purpose of the loan being refinanced is not relevant to determining whether the new loan is a refinancing for HMDA purposes. Nor is the borrower’s intended use of any additional cash borrowed relevant to determining whether the loan is a refinancing, though the borrower’s intended use of the funds could make the transaction a home improvement loan or a home purchase loan. See the definitions of “home purchase loan” and “home improvement loan.” Also see the rule on multipurpose loans on page 12 of the HMDA guide (http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/guide.htm).

Regulatory/Supervisory Agencies
The five agencies – Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) – that are members to the FFIEC and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have regulatory and supervisory responsibility over certain types of institutions.

OCC regulates national banks and their subsidiaries and federal branches and federal agencies of foreign banks.

FRS regulates state member banks of the Federal Reserve System, their subsidiaries, subsidiaries of bank holding companies, branches and agencies of foreign banks (other than federal branches, federal agencies and insured state branches of foreign banks), commercial lending companies owned or controlled by foreign banks, and organizations operating under section 25 or 25A of the Federal Reserve Act.

FDIC regulates nonmember insured banks (except for federal savings banks) and their subsidiaries. Insured state branches of foreign banks that are supervised by the FDIC and other depository institutions.

OTS regulates savings institutions insured under the Savings Association Insurance Fund of the FDIC, federally-chartered savings banks insured under the Bank Insurance Fund of the FDIC (but not state-chartered savings banks insured under the Bank Insurance Fund) their subsidiaries and subsidiaries of savings institution holding companies.

NCUA regulates credit unions.

HUD regulates independent mortgage companies.

RID – Respondent or Reporter ID
A ten-digit number used to identify a HMDA reporting institution. RIDs often require leading zeros to meet the length requirement. For example, if the source number is 12345, the ten-digit RID number is 0000012345. The number, which is assigned by each supervisory/regulatory agency, along with the agency code keeps an institution separate and unique from another. The number used by each agency for the depository institutions and nondepository institutions are:

Agency	Depository Institutions	Nondepository Institutions
FDIC	FDIC certificate number	Federal tax ID number
FRS	RSSD number	RSSD number
HUD	Has no depository institutions	Federal tax ID number
NCUA	Charter number	Federal tax ID number
OCC	Charter number	Federal tax ID number
OTS	Docket number	Federal tax ID number*

In situations where an acquisition or merger has occurred, please email HMDAHELP@frb.gov for assistance on determining the RID number and agency code.

*The formatting of the federal tax IDs for OTS nondepository institutions is: delete the hyphen and input a leading zero with the remaining nine digits of the federal tax ID number; for example 0NNNNNNNNN.

Respondent Name
The name of the HMDA reporting institution.

State Code
A two-digit FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code that identifies the state where the property is located.

Syntactical Edits
The loan applications will not be loaded to the FFIEC database. If they should be included on the FFIEC database, the data must be corrected. Some examples are incorrect activity year used in your submission; or initial LAR data (T2 record) already on file, which indicates that a LAR with a duplicate loan application number was submitted. The letter ‘S’ precedes the error numbers.

TS – Transmittal Sheet
The transmittal sheet is submitted with a reporter's data. The transmittal sheet includes the following information: reporter's HMDA ID number, regulatory agency code, reporter's tax ID, number of application/loan records submitted, HMDA activity year, name of reporting institution, address, city, state, zip code, contact name, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address.

Also, input the name, address, city, state and zip code of any parent company. Nondepository institutions of all agencies, except HUD (possibly), must provide parent information. However, if any HUD reporters have a parent, they too must provide the parent company information.

Type of Purchaser
If you sell a loan in the same calendar year in which it was originated or purchased, you must identify the type of purchaser to whom it was sold. If the loan is sold to more than one purchaser, use the code for the entity purchasing the greatest interest. If you sell only a portion of the loan, retaining a majority interest, do not report the sale. If you do not sell the loan during the same calendar year, or if the application did not result in a loan origination, enter the code “0” (zero).

If you sell the loan in a succeeding year, you need not report the sale in the succeeding year and you do not go back to previous years to show it as sold.

Validity Edits
The specified data are reported incorrectly and must be corrected. The most common example is incorrect census tracts. The letter ‘V’ precedes the error numbers.

Click to return to the top of the page.