The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (HMDA), as amended, 12 U.S.C. § 2801 et seq., requires lenders to publicly report certain information or data concerning loan approval and denial rates.

Publicly available HMDA data is located on the website of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). The FFIEC is an interagency body that sets forth uniform principles, standards, and report forms used to complete examination of financial institutions by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau.

On March 24, 2022, the FFIEC released its HMDA for 2021. The Fair Housing Center was asked to participate in a Fair Housing Brunch sponsored by the Greater Detroit Realtist Association and the Detroit Association of Realtors. The Center's PowerPoint presentation contains several charts showing problems in the Detroit market in comparison to the surrounding Wayne County, the State of Michigan, and the entire United States.

For example, Blacks comprise 77.1% of the Detroit population but just 46.91% of the mortgage applicants. The HMDA data also shows that inadequate collateral--or the appraisal of a home--is listed as a reason for denial in approximately 20% of the loan denials. The subprime indicator is 23.15% for Black applicants in Detroit, in comparison to a 16.58% rate in Michigan and 9.32% in the United States.

The Center welcomes careful consideration of its PowerPoint presentation for those interested in addressing disparities in the Detroit lending market.

• PowerPoint: Fair Lending in Detroit - 2022