The IRS called a sudden meeting on Friday, December 8th to announce that they were going to implement security to protect taxpayers. The surprise was they were implementing it over that same weekend.

Digging through the data yourself can often be tedious if you do not know what you are looking for. However, there are tools such as QuestSoft’s Market Data module that can extrapolate the information from the HMDA data for insights into an institution’s performance and allow institutions to improve their lending performance.

With the upcoming change in leadership, we decided to have QuestSoft President Leonard Ryan and QuestSoft Vice President of Support and Training Carey Aimone weigh in on how a new director could affect the future of compliance and regulations.

Blockchain has the potential to impact many different industries. The financial services industry is ripe for innovation and is of great interest to enthusiasts for the adoption of blockchain. Blockchain technology can affect how compliance departments, quality control and many other departments operate. Blockchain technology can also help mortgage lenders save money by streamlining workflows and creating a better customer experience, while reducing risk.

HousingWire recently reported that Wells Fargo has appointed a new chief compliance officer to transform their compliance into an “industry-leading” program. This comes after multiple accusations of harmful business practices emerging over the past few years, including accusations of “forcing mortgage applicants to pay unwarranted fees” (Washington Post). This alone would make anyone even remotely familiar with TRID furrow their brow. So, what does it take to make an exceptional compliance program? Well, it all starts at the top.

Every year, HMDA loan data is made public on all reporting institutions. This data is used by public groups, agencies and businesses to assess mortgage lending and develop better ways of doing business. By analyzing the data, businesses can extrapolate trends and issues across the mortgage industry.

This week, QuestSoft will be releasing the latest Compliance RELIEF update to enable customers to live test their 2018 data against the 215 new validity error codes and 42 new quality checks—three months ahead of the implementation deadline of January 1st. These new error codes have no ties to historical codes, allowing lenders to start with a “clean slate” and adjust to new standards and conditions throughout their operations.

The CFPB recently addressed how it planned handle the privacy concerns of its new HMDA reporting and collection requirements. The number of submitted fields is nearly tripling, and these fields must be stored by both financial institutions and the CFPB. With the recent security breaches at Equifax and the SEC, the privacy and security of this expanded dataset is a major concern.

The CFPB just issued a no-action letter to Upstart Network, an online lending platform, which uses alternative data to make credit and pricing decisions. This means the CFPB will not take legal action against the company for actions that are not technically legal, but are acceptable as long as Upstart provides certain information to the CFPB regarding the loan applications it receives, how it decides which loans to approve and how it will mitigate risk to consumers. The CFPB wants to study how alternative data can be used to better serve the credit needs of underserved populations.

The CFPB has stated that fair lending enforcement is a priority and has issued more than $45 million dollars in remediation since 2016 for violations. Institutions that are able to take advantage of the new HMDA data expansion will not only have smoother examinations, but will also be able to make data-backed business decisions.