The Federal Housing Finance Agency is making a push to expand access to the nation mortgage database it has created in conjunction with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

In an unprecedented move in 2012, the agencies said they would create the largest-ever mortgage database in the country’s history spanning information dating back to 1998 and including a look into loan level information from origination to servicing, credit and financial profiles. 

Now, the FHFA says it is ramping up the database even further in a request for comments on expanded data sets for the loans it is gathering. 

“The revisions expand the category of records that will be collected, maintained, and stored in the system as well as make minor clarifications and editorial changes,” the FHFA writes in its Federal Register Filing. 

The categories may include information spanning five main dimensions: mortgage record, real estate transaction, household demographic data on the borrower, physical characteristics of the house and neighborhood and performance data on the mortgage and all credit lines.

Borrower information, while it will be used only for cross reference, may include names, addresses, phone numbers, race, ethnicity and other personal identifiers. 

Credit information may include details of the mortgage loan as well as other credit types such as student loans, credit cards, outstanding balances and other information. 

The agencies said upon the inception of the database it would be used as a tool both for regulators and researchers giving access never granted before to such a wealth of data. 

While the FHFA noted in its filing that most records would not contain personal identifiers, a notice by the American Bankers Association in response said the association will be exploring the potential impact on bank reporting requirements as well as privacy concerns for customers. 

View the FHFA proposal. 

Written by Elizabeth Ecker