The Federal Housing Finance Agency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are going to work together to create a National Mortgage Database.
The two agencies are calling it “the first comprehensive repository of detailed mortgage loan information.”
The purpose is to support policymaking and regulatory research.
“This partnership between FHFA and CFPB will create a unique resource that benefits the government and public as we seek to answer important questions about how the housing finance market is evolving and changing,” said FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco. “This collaborative effort is a great way to pool expertise and leverage resources for the benefit of regulators and the public.”
The government agencies deny the database can be used to extensively track the finances of America’s homeowners.
The database, they say, will not contain personally identifiable information. Both the FHFA and CFPB said precautions will be in place so individual homeowners cannot be identified through the database or through any subsequent public datasets.
In addition to identifying both the first-lien and second-lien holders in one place, something not available anywhere else, the database will also help with the execution of decisions at the FHFA.
For example, the FHFA proposed a framework for a common securitization platform and a model pooling and servicing agreement.
The plan, originally announced in February, is intended to repair the nation’s mortgage finance space by creating a secondary market that serves both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as a post-conservatorship market with multiple future issuers.
This database could be use to monitor the effectiveness of the new platform.
But it also goes beyond mortgages, The database will also include information about a borrower’s other debt obligations, such as auto loans or student loans. “This will permit policy makers to better understand emerging borrowing trends and overall consumer debt burden,” reads the press statement.
