Adjustments to two asset-size exemption thresholds were published by the CFPB in today’s Federal Register. First, the CFPB has increased the asset-size exemption threshold under HMDA/Regulation C which is currently set at $43 million. Banks, savings associations, and credit unions with assets at or below $44 million as of December 31, 2014 are exempt from collecting HMDA data in 2015.
Second, the CFPB has increased the asset-size threshold under TILA/Regulation Z for certain small creditors operating primarily in rural or underserved areas to qualify for an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for higher-priced mortgage loans (HPML). The threshold is currently set at $2.028 billion. Loans made by creditors operating primarily in rural or underserved areas with total assets of less than $2.060 billion on December 31, 2014 that meet the other Regulation Z exemption requirements will be exempt in 2015 from the escrow account requirement for HPMLs. (The adjustment will also increase the asset threshold for small creditor portfolio and balloon-payment qualified mortgages which references the HPML escrow account asset-size threshold.)