canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/consumerfinance.gov/consumerfinance

# Consumerfinance Gov The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The CFPB API exposes Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data through dataset, concept, and slice endpoints so researchers, journalists, and fintech teams can query mortgage application and origination records by geography, lender, demographic group, and loan type. The six endpoints return JSON for programmatic use without an API key.

## For AI agents

Query U.S. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including dataset listings, concept lookups, and slice queries with metadata.

## Scope

Does not handle credit reports, complaints, or consumer credit decisions - use for CFPB HMDA mortgage dataset queries only.

## Capabilities

- List available CFPB datasets exposed through the data endpoint
- Retrieve HMDA dataset records by dataset id
- Look up HMDA concepts such as loan purpose, action taken, and applicant race code definitions
- Query HMDA data slices for filtered subsets of mortgage application records
- Retrieve metadata describing the columns, types, and value lists of an HMDA slice
- Pull mortgage origination, denial, and demographic data for fair-lending and market analysis

## Use cases

### Fair-Lending Research and Reporting

Academic researchers, journalists, and consumer-advocacy groups query HMDA data to analyse mortgage origination and denial patterns across demographic groups, lenders, and geographies. The CFPB API returns slice-level results with metadata describing columns and value lists, so analyses can be reproduced and audited. Results power studies and articles on disparities in home lending without requiring bulk data downloads.

Example prompt: Retrieve the HMDA slice for 2022 originations filtered to property_type='one-to-four-family' and county='06037' and aggregate counts by applicant_race

### Lender Benchmarking for Fintech Underwriting

Mortgage fintech teams pull HMDA records to benchmark a lender's denial rates, average loan amounts, and demographic mix against peers in the same metropolitan statistical area. The slice endpoints support filter parameters and the metadata endpoint documents which columns can be filtered, making automated benchmarking pipelines feasible. Pulled data can feed downstream credit-policy or marketing models.

Example prompt: Pull HMDA slice for action_taken=3 (denied) by lender lei in MSA 31080 for 2022 and compute denial rate per lender

### Public Data Journalism

Newsrooms generate maps and charts of mortgage activity by pulling HMDA slices keyed to census tract or county. Concept lookups translate code values such as 1, 2, 3 in action_taken into human-readable labels, so visualisations can be labelled correctly without a separate code dictionary. Because the API requires no key, production stories can launch without procurement delays.

Example prompt: Fetch the HMDA concept definition for action_taken and map each code to a label, then query slice data for ZIP-region tracts and produce a county-level denial-rate table

### AI Agent Mortgage Data Lookup via Jentic

An AI agent embedded in a research or compliance tool uses Jentic to discover and call CFPB HMDA endpoints when a user asks about home lending data. Jentic returns the matching operation, schema, and concept definitions, and the agent can chain a concept lookup with a slice query in one workflow. No credentials are required because the API is open data.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'query CFPB HMDA mortgage data', load the slice endpoint schema, and execute a query for 2022 originations in the Chicago MSA grouped by applicant_race

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/data` | List available CFPB datasets |
| GET | `/data/{dataset}` | Retrieve a specific dataset by id |
| GET | `/data/hmda` | Entry point for HMDA dataset access |
| GET | `/data/hmda/concept/{concept}` | Look up an HMDA concept code definition |
| GET | `/data/hmda/slice/{slice}` | Query a filtered HMDA data slice |
| GET | `/data/hmda/slice/{slice}/metadata` | Retrieve column metadata for an HMDA slice |

## Key resources

- **data** — List of CFPB datasets and entry point for dataset retrieval
- **hmda** — Home Mortgage Disclosure Act dataset, concept lookups, and slice queries
- **concept** — Definitions of HMDA code values such as action_taken and applicant_race
- **slice** — Filterable subsets of HMDA records with associated metadata

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau HMDA API by hand means learning its dataset, concept, and slice URL grammar and handling paging yourself, even though it needs no credentials. Through Jentic you install once, import the CFPB API from the API Directory, and your agent calls it with audit logging and rate-limit handling applied consistently.
- **Permission scoping:** The CFPB HMDA API is public and read-only, so you limit the agent to the GET operations it needs, such as querying a dataset or reading slice metadata, and it can retrieve nothing beyond that set. Because every operation only reads public mortgage data, there is nothing for the agent to modify or delete.
- **Credential handling:** The CFPB HMDA API needs no credential, and Jentic One still records each call so its usage sits in the same audit trail as the authenticated APIs your agent uses. No secret enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'query the HMDA mortgage dataset', and Jentic returns the matching CFPB operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **U.S. Census Bureau API** — Census provides demographic and geographic context that pairs with HMDA mortgage records.
- **Data.gov Catalog API** — Data.gov indexes federal datasets, including links to CFPB resources, for dataset discovery.
- **SEC EDGAR API** — SEC EDGAR exposes corporate financial filings rather than household mortgage data.

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

The CFPB does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call the CFPB HMDA API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau API use?

The CFPB HMDA API is open data and does not require authentication or an API key. Through Jentic the request is executed directly against api.consumerfinance.gov with no credentials in agent context.

### Can I query HMDA mortgage data with The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau API?

Yes. GET `/data/hmda/slice/{slice}` returns filtered HMDA records and GET `/data/hmda/slice/{slice}/metadata` returns the column definitions for that slice. Concept code definitions such as action_taken values are available at GET `/data/hmda/concept/{concept}.`

### What are the rate limits for The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau API?

CFPB does not publish hard rate limits for the public HMDA API but heavy or repeated bulk pulls should be paginated and cached. Through Jentic, retries with exponential backoff are handled at the SDK level so agents do not need to implement throttling logic themselves.

### How do I look up an HMDA code definition with The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau API through Jentic?

Run `jentic.search('look up an HMDA concept definition')`, load the operation, and execute with the concept name (for example action_taken). Jentic resolves this to GET `/data/hmda/concept/{concept}` and returns the value list.

### Is The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau API free?

Yes. CFPB HMDA data is published as open government data and the API is free to use under the agency's data licence. There are no paid tiers or quotas associated with this API.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the CFPB HMDA API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which CFPB operations the agent may call, so you can allow only the GET requests it needs, such as listing datasets, querying an HMDA slice, or reading slice metadata and concept definitions. Since every CFPB HMDA operation only reads public mortgage data, the agent has nothing it can modify or delete, and anything you leave out of its allowed set stays out of reach. No credential is needed, and each call the agent makes is recorded in your audit trail.