Online LAR Formatting Tool

LAR Formatting Tool: https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/tools/online-lar-formatting

Interaction Guide

File Actions

Import or export your LAR data.

• Upload: Work with an existing pipe-delimited LAR file.
• Download: Create a LAR file based on the currently saved LAR data.
• Reset: Start fresh by erasing all LAR data.

Saved Records

Review your existing records. This section also allows you to search by text content or filter which columns are displayed, helping to focus your data reviews. Clicking on a row will populate it's data in the Editor to allow modification.

• Transmittal Sheet: Institution information
• Loan/Application Records: Application information

Editing a Row

Edit the currently selected row. Use the New Row button to start a new record.

Row Actions

Manage the persistence of the current row.

• Save/Update: Create/Modify the currently selected row.
• Delete: Remove the selected row from Saved Records
• New Row: Clears the Editor in preparation for entry of a new record.
• Clipboard Copy/Paste: Quickly import/export a single row's data.

Search/Filter fields

• Use the Search box to find rows that contain the provided text (case insensitive).
• Use the Filter box to restrict which LAR fields are displayed.

Editing a Record

Editing status

The heading of the Editor will remind you whether you are:

• Creating or Updating the current Editor row
  • ex. Creating a new LAR Row
  • ex. Updating LAR Row 1
• Working with TS vs LAR
  • ex. Creating a new LAR Row
  • ex. Creating Transmittal Sheet

Parsed Values

Edit the selected row with guided enumerations, examples, and field descriptions. Changes are not persisted until you click Save/Update.

• Enumerations: Drop-down menus for enumerated values (i.e. Loan Type).
• NA/Exempt: Buttons for easy exception inputs.
• Dates: Date-picker with easily readable date format. Values are automatically converted between the display-format and the lar-format (yyyymmdd).
• Field details: View description, enumerations, and examples.

Pipe-Delimited Values

Edit the selected row as if you were directly in the LAR file. Changes are not persisted until you click Save/Update.

• Clipboard Copy/Paste: Easily import/export data between applications.
• Linking with Parsed Values: Selecting a field in the text area will highlight the same field in Parsed Values to make editing data easier with the guided enumerations, examples, and field descriptions.

Please Review

If there are records in an uploaded LAR file that we could not reliably parse, you will see the following.

Creating a LAR file from scratch

Create a Transmittal Sheet (TS) row

• Scroll down to the Editor which should show Creating Transmittal Sheet. The Record Identifier is already set for you
• Fill out your Insitution's information
• Click Save Row
• You will see your TS in the Saved Records section.
• Note: There is only one TS per LAR file.
• Now you can begin creating Loan/Application Register (LAR) rows.

Create a Loan/Application Register (LAR) row

• Click the New Row button to remove any previously entered data.
• The Record Identifier is automatically set for you.
• Use the Parsed Values view for easier data input.
• Use the Pipe-Delimited Values for quick row navigation and data scanning.
• Click Save Row to store this Loan/Application's data.
• Saved rows are listed in the Saved Records section.

Edit a row

• Selecting a record from the Saved Records will populate that row's data in the Editing section of the app.
  • Parsed Values provides examples of field inputs, field and input descriptions, and easy selectors for enumerated fields.
  • Pipe-Delimited Values provides the row's raw text, as it will appear in your downloaded LAR file.
    • Clicking in a field will highlight that value in the Parsed Values section for quick editing.
• Use the Editing section to make your required modifications.
• Click the Update Row button to save your changes.

Delete a row

• Selecting a record in Saved Records will populate that row's data in the Editing section of the app.
• Click the Delete button to remove the selected row.
• You will be prompted to confirm this action.

Download your LAR file

• Use the Download File button to download a pipe-delimited, UTF-8 encoded, .txt file containing the TS and LAR data shown in the Saved Records section. Unsaved data entered in the Editing section is not included in the downloaded LAR file.
• The file is saved to your browser's default download directory.
• The data is now formatted into a pipe-delimited text file (as shown below) and ready to be submitted to the HMDA Platform.

Editing an existing LAR file

Upload your file

Use the Upload File button to select your file. All processing is done in your browser, no data is sent to the CFPB.

Note: Rows without a valid Record Identifier are filtered out during data parsing and presented in a Records for review section. You should review and correct these records.

Search the TS/LAR data

Use the Saved Records area to find records relevant to your focus.

• You can search the text of your file using the Search TS and Search LAR boxes.
• You can filter which fields are shown using the Filter columns/Filter by label boxes.

Edit a row

Selecting a record in Saved Records will populate that row's data in the Editing section of the app.

• Parsed Values provides examples of field inputs, field and input descriptions, and easy selectors for enumerated fields.
• Pipe-Delimited Values provides the row's raw text, as it will appear in your downloaded LAR file.
  • Clicking in a field will highlight that value in the Parsed Values section for quick editing.

Save changes

After making your changes, use the Download File button to download your LAR file.

The data is now formatted into a pipe-delimited text file (as shown below) and ready to be submitted to the HMDA Platform.

LAR File Output

The LARFT produces pipe-delimited, UTF-8 encoded LAR files. Files contain at least 1 TS and 1 LAR row.

Note: Aside from the Record Identifier, data uploaded to the LARFT is not checked for validity. You can submit your file on the HMDA Beta Platform to test for Edits.

Example output:

Frequently Asked Questions

The Frequently Asked Questions are available at https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/documentation/category/frequently-asked-questions

HMDA Help

Technical questions about reporting HMDA data collected in or after 2017 should be directed to hmdahelp@cfpb.gov.