OCC: Start Testing HMDA Data

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says it expects national banks to begin evaluating the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data they are collecting to see if their loan pricing appears to be discriminatory."We are in the process of contacting a group of national banks that include high-volume mortgage lenders," said Julie Williams, the OCC's general counsel. If they are not analyzing the first- and second-quarter HMDA data, the OCC will "tell them" to begin. Or the OCC may conduct its own analysis, she told a Consumer Bankers Association fair-lending conference. The OCC official stressed that national banks need to be prepared to explain to the public next summer that the 2004 HMDA data do not show discriminatory lending patterns, or else the reputations of individual institutions and the banking industry could be damaged. Ms. Williams also warned that the OCC will take appropriate actions if it receives evidence from HMDA reports or other credible sources of fair-lending violations.