Seeking to protect consumers’ private information, U.S. Reps. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Andy Barr (R-KY) teamed up to reintroduce legislation that would require the Comptroller General of the United States to study the risks of making homeowners’ sensitive information publicly available.
The Homeowner Information Privacy Protection Act (HIPPA), H.R. 2204, would require a study on a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule establishing additional reporting requirements for consumer mortgage information under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).
“The CFPB is proposing to expose my constituents’ sensitive information, such as credit scores, on an obscure page of a government website,” Hultgren said. “This is far from consumer protection. Experts understand that connecting the dots between such ‘anonymized’ information and the specific individual is too easy and puts their information and finances at risk of abuse.”
CFPB finalized a rule in October 2015 that would establish 25 new data points, modify 14 data points and add nine new data fields to reporting requirements for mortgage information outlined in HMDA.
“Federal regulators should not put the personal information of American homeowners at unnecessary risk,” Hultgren said. “The Homeowner Information Privacy Protection Act requires an independent study to ensure Americans are protected before regulators make new information available to the public.”
Under the CFPB rule, which does not state which information would be made publicly available, data collection would be expanded to include things like the age, credit scores, property value and interest rates of borrowers beginning in January. Reporting would begin in March 2019.
“Consumers should not have their private information placed at risk of public exposure when buying a home,” said Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Richard Hunt. “As experts note, the CFPB’s final HMDA rule exposes consumers’ financial and personal information, such as credit scores, debt-to-income ratios, and property addresses, to significant re-identification risk.”
Hunt urged Congress to quickly advance the bill to better protect consumers’ information.