The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released for public use a new loan-level dataset collected through the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) that provides insights into borrowers’ experiences in getting a residential mortgage.
The NSMO is a component of the National Mortgage Database (NMDB®), the first comprehensive repository of detailed mortgage loan information designed to support policymaking and research efforts and to help regulators better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends. The NMDB was launched by FHFA and the BCFP in 2012.
In each quarter since 2014, FHFA and the BCFP sent surveys to borrowers who had recently obtained mortgages to gather feedback on their experiences during the process of getting a mortgage, their perception of the mortgage market, and their future expectations. FHFA and the BCFP have been compiling the NSMO survey data and this dataset is the first public release.
“The NSMO data should be very helpful to policymakers, the mortgage industry and researchers in understanding consumer behavior and borrowers’ experiences obtaining a mortgage,” said FHFA Deputy Director Sandra Thompson. “The goal of the survey is to obtain information to help improve lending practices and the mortgage process for future borrowers.”
“These data will allow greater transparency, accountability, and effectiveness around borrowers’ mortgage experiences. This is yet another example of greater cooperation within the federal family on behalf of smarter policy for the American people,” said BCFP Acting Director Mick Mulvaney.
The NMDB is designed to fulfill the requirements of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). HERA mandated that FHFA conduct a monthly mortgage survey of all residential mortgages, including those not eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Dodd-Frank Act mandated that the BCFP monitor the primary mortgage market, in part through the use of the survey data.
The NSMO public use file can be found at: https://www.fhfa.gov/nsmodata