DOI: 10.3886/e222281v1
title: FHFA: Fair Lending Data

description: Fair Lending Data





 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Fair
 lending is central to the principles under which the U.S. housing 
finance system operates and is a requirement of law. FHFA’s fair lending
 activities include monitoring the regulated entities for fair lending 
and fair housing risk and conducting examinations on their policies, 
programs, and activities. FHFA monitors loan application accept rates 
and other trends for fair lending risk and compliance.The data 
are provided for public transparency and to promote fair lending, but do
 not by themselves prove or disprove unlawful discrimination. Additional
 information on FHFA's fair lending program is available on the Fair Lending Oversight page.Statistics ReportedThe accept rate represents
 the proportion of applicants who were approved by the AUS and whose 
loans are eligible for purchase based on their credit characteristics. 
It does not represent final credit decisions concerning applicants, 
which are made by lenders. The accept rate is influenced by the 
population of borrowers applying for mortgage credit. The number 
borrowers who are submitted to the AUS is constantly changing and 
fluctuates with changes in market interest rates, affordability, 
household formation, lender selection, and other market factors. 
Additionally, lenders may use one or both AUS systems to assess an 
applicant.The accept rate gap represents the raw 
difference between the protected class accept rate and the comparison 
group (Non-Hispanic white) accept rate. The accept rate ratio represents
 the protected class accept rate divided by the comparison group accept 
rate. These statistics help FHFA to assess the impact of changes in the 
population applying for credit and policy changes in the AUS.Loans
 that are accepted by the AUS and originated by lender may or may not 
result in an Enterprise loan acquisition, or funding. Enterprise loan 
acquisitions are influenced by a variety of factors such as the lender’s
 propensity to securitize or retain loans on the balance sheet, pricing 
and execution, as well as other economic variables. Loan acquisition 
data are displayed by race and ethnicity along with the proportion (or 
share) of loan acquisitions for that quarter.Race and EthnicityThe
 Enterprises define race and ethnicity using non-mutually exclusive 
definitions and applications are counted with each race or ethnicity 
reported by a borrower or co-borrower. For example, if there are two 
borrowers on a mortgage, one of whom identifies as Black and one as 
Asian, the loan information would be counted in both Black and Asian 
borrower categories. The exception is that white borrowers include only 
those reported as non-Hispanic white and no other race. Borrowers with 
missing race and ethnicity information are excluded from the population 
when calculating the proportion of loan acquisitions.For race and
 ethnicity categories, FHFA’s Division of Public Interest Examinations 
and Office of Fair Lending Oversight uses the following naming 
conventions: “White” refers to Non-Hispanic white applicants or 
borrowers; “Black” refers to African American or Black borrowers; 
“Latino” refers to Hispanic or Latino borrowers of any race; “American 
Indian” refers to American Indian or Alaska Native borrowers (AIAN); 
“Pacific Islander” refers to Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 
borrowers; “Asian” refers to Asian borrowers.AUS DataThe
 underlying data consist of application data for each Enterprise's 
Automated Underwriting System (AUS) that have been transmitted to FHFA. 
Fannie Mae uses Desktop Underwriter (DU), and Freddie Mac uses Loan 
Product Advisor (LPA) as their respective AUS system. The data represent
 the AUS recommendation for the last transaction submitted to the AUS, 
excluding applications that were not scorable, applications for FHA/VA 
loans, and applications identified as test cases.<br>