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5 FAQs about CRA and HMDA Transmittal

author Ncontracts
3 min read
Apr 25, 2015

If you're wondering why you might need a HMDA or CRA transmittal tool, this post is written just for you! You'll learn all the basics of the HMDA and CRA transmittal process, what tools are on the market, and the benefits of them all.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) requires that covered financial institutions submit their Loan/Application Record (HMDA LAR) to the regulatory agencies for monitoring and risk management. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has a similar submission requirement.

That means that most financial institutions in the US have to submit one or the other file to the federal government.

That's the most important reason you need a HMDA or CRA transmittal tool. However, that's not the only reason! There are a lot of other factors to consider. 

In this post, you'll learn all the basics of HMDA and CRA transmittal, and the important reasons why you need a HMDA and/or CRA submission software.

To set the stage, it's important to understand the basics of HMDA and CRA transmittal. Below, you'll learn some of the most frequently asked questions about HMDA and CRA submission, and their answers. Then, you'll see all the reasons why you need a HMDA and/or CRA transmittal tool.

5 FAQs about CRA and HMDA Submission - Answered!

  1. What is HMDA submission, and what is CRA submission?
    • HMDA and CRA submission, sometimes called HMDA transmittal, is the process of sharing your HMDA and CRA data with the agencies. The data is shared in a specific format using a secure interface, depending on the regulation. We'll talk more about those formatting specifications later.
    • It's important to remember the annual lifecycle of HMDA (and CRA) data:
      • Collection & Cleanup
      • Submission
      • Analysis
      • Monitoring & Mitigation
      • As you can see here, there are a lot of moving parts in HMDA and CRA data management. To learn more, request this worksheet that outlines the HMDA Lifecycle.
  2. How do financial institutions format the data for transmittal?
    • That specific formatting is an important factor of preparing for a successful HMDA submission, and CRA submission.
    • Every year, the regulators release a LAR formatting tool for HMDA; we are still waiting on the 2019 edition of the HMDA LAR formatting tool. The 2018 and 2017 HMDA formatting tools are here.
    • CRA formatting requirements differ depending on the size of the institution, and there isn't a government-provided tool. However, the agencies do provide formatting guides for each of the institution size categories.
  3. When is the submission required?
    • All data collected the prior year must be submitted to the government on March 1. For example, all data collected during 2018 was submitted on March 1, 2019.
  4. How do you submit CRA data? How do you submit HMDA data?
    • All data must be submitted to the regulatory agencies using the tools provided. Both HMDA and CRA have a specific software.
    • HMDA data is submitted through the HMDA Platform; that is the only option for financial institutions. You can learn more about the HMDA Platform here.
    • CRA data is submitted through the FFIEC's Data Entry Software. In addition, financial institutions can submit their CRA LAR via email or by mail using a CD-ROM or diskette. You can learn more about CRA LAR submission here.
    • Some third-party providers offer software that submits your data for you, as you'll see next.
  5. What are the best HMDA and CRA transmittal tools on the market?
    • TRUPOINT offers HMDA and CRA transmittal tools that make submitting your data to the government easy. If you'd like to learn more and get a free product sheet, please click here!
      • Remember, TRUPOINT's Transmittal Tool integrates with TRUPOINT Analytics, our compliance analysis software, making it a perfect fit for current and future Analytics customers.
    • We also wrote an in-depth blog post about the best HMDA and CRA transmittal tools on the market.

Why You Need a HMDA and/or CRA Submission Software!

 

Why you need a software:

Reduce mistakes and the risk of resubmitting

Save time

More easily manage your data

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