WASHINGTON–How does the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection gather its data? According to a new report issued by the BCFP, it uses at least seven databases and what it called other “core data assets” in the course of its supervision.
The BCFP said the report, “Sources and Uses of Data at the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection,” was published to provide greater clarity around the data it collects, where the data comes from, and how the data is accessed and reused within the agency. The report includes the full text of the BCFP’s internal data governance policies and charters, it said in a released statement.
In conjunction with the new report, the BCFP has also published a “request for information” (RFI) that seeks public comment about sources for data and how the information is used by the Bureau. Comments are due in 90 days.
List of Data Sources
The BCFP said the seven-plus databases it uses include:
- Consumer Complaints: Includes consumer descriptions of their issues with companies providing financial products or services. Complaint data is also received in the form of company responses to those consumers. It also receives inquiries and feedback from consumers.
- Enforcement Activities Data: Collected in the course of enforcement activities. The BCFP said it is not one data asset, but a number of data assets maintained separately for each enforcement matter, each with access restrictions.
- Supervisory Activities Data. This is data collected in the course of supervisory activities, and is also not one data asset, but a number of data assets maintained separately for each supervisory matter, each with access restrictions.
- Consumer Credit Panel: The BCFP described this as a nationally representative panel (one in 48 sample) of approximately five-million de-identified consumer credit records updated monthly, dating back to 2001. The Bureau said it procured the data through a “competitive procurement process” from one of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies.
- National Mortgage Database. A joint project with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), it is a source of information about the U.S. mortgage market based on a 5% sample of residential mortgages, the BCFP said.
- Credit Card Database: The CCDB is a sample of de-identified account-level (such as account balance) credit card data, according to the BCFP, and does not contain transaction level data pertaining to consumer purchases.
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: HMDA data is used to identify possible discriminatory lending patterns and to enforce anti-discrimination statutes like the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the BCFP said.
- Call Reports. The BCFP said it monitors Reports of Condition and Income from financial institutions in various financial markets, including NCUA and state regulators.