Supporting Statement A_Renumb Attach #3--FHFA ASMB Cognitive Testing Guide

FHFA ASMB Survey
Cognitive Testing Guidance 02/09/16
Survey Objective
The objective of this survey is to learn from consumers who were delinquent or had trouble
paying on their mortgage: 1) how the payment difficulties came about, 2) what steps the
consumer took to address the difficulty 3) how servicers may have interacted with them.
FHFA/CFPB also wants to learn about whether the borrower received credit or homeownership
counseling.
Survey Sample and Questionnaire
This should be seen as a one-time survey. The survey sample will be a stratified sample of 10,000
mortgages and will oversample mortgages that were delinquent as of December 31, 2014. The survey
questions include attitudinal data, trigger data (life events that take place), information about the
mortgage and mortgaged property, attempts to refinance, and interactions with mortgage servicers.

Criteria for Recruiting Cognitive Testing Participants
Participants will have responded to a Craigslist add/email request. FHFA/CFPB want to focus on
distressed borrowers (i.e. At any time in the last two years did you have difficulty paying your
mortgage?)
Participants should be screened (whether with ad or in follow-up call) to fall into one of the three
categories below:
1) They have had a hard time making mortgage payments
2) They have had late payments (How late were the payments? 30/60/90/120/more)
3) They have missed payments (How many did you miss?)

Additional screening may be:
1) When did you experience this difficulty? (Don’t want people that lost their homes in
2011. Needs to be within past few years).
2) Did they refinance or modify their loan as a result of the difficulty in paying their
mortgage?
3) Did they go into foreclosure?
4) Did you “cure” your mortgage without refinancing?
Probing for Questionnaire
General questions on the overall survey:
1. Do participants understand the difference between lender and servicer?
2. Is it clear throughout which mortgage participant should be responding for? We want participant
to be talking about the active mortgage they had as of January 1, 2015 (first mortgage).
3. Are the skip patterns clear?
FHFA ASMB Cognitive Testing Guidance 2/9/16

1

4. Do they understand “difficulty” as intended? (see three options).
5. We want to know what caused the distress and what the participant did about it.
6. Are any of the questions sensitive? Questions may be sensitive to the population FHFA/CFPB are
targeting.
7. Any comments on the cover letter/survey look and feel?
8. Do participants understand the difference between credit counseling, home buying counseling or
a home buying course? (This is also referred to as housing counseling or home education.) Note:
The listed item in the table below (for Q41) may be sufficient.
9. If someone is selected that had multiple mortgages in January 2015, how did they decide which
loan to refer to when answering the survey questions?
Specific questions to be aware of during the interview are listed below.
Question #
Full
Cog
qux
qux
1
1

4

4

13

9

15

11

21

14

26

19

36

29

41

34

54/55

47/48

Question
Looking back to January 1, 2015 did
you have at least one mortgage loan on
a residence that was outstanding at
that time (could be your home or house
lived in by others)?
When did you take out this
mortgage?

When did you buy or acquire this
property? If you refinanced, the date
you originally acquired the property.
About how much do you think this
property is worth today; that is, what
could it sell for now?
At any time did the loan servicer, the
company where you send your monthly
payments, of the loan you had in
January 2015, change?
At any point during the past several
years, did you face any difficulties
making payments on the loan you had
in January 2015?
What action, if any, was taken to
address the payment difficulties? Mark
one answer.
What type of counseling or course did
you participate in?
Did you refinance or modify this loan
How did the terms of the new loan
compare to the loan you had on Jan 1,
2015?

FHFA ASMB Cognitive Testing Guidance 2/9/16

Probe For….
Clarity, understand which mortgage, if multiple
mortgages a refinance or has refinanced since
Jan 2015.
Understand we want the date of the mortgage
sometime before Jan 1, 2015. If refinance we
want the refinance date, not the original
purchase date. Do we need to clarify here?
Clarity. Understand the difference from Q4?
Is there a difference between “worth” and
“could sell it for”?
Is there any question about who the loan
servicer is?
Does participant understand difficulties i.e.
hard time making payments, late payments or
missed payments. (Hopefully everyone is a
“YES”) – Don’t want a lot of people selecting
NO.
Are any statements in the responses
confusing ?
Does participant understand the differences
between the options listed?
For the respondent that checks “refinanced or
modified loan” in Q53 we want to know how
they refer to the new loan or terms of the new
loan.

2

Survey Instrument for Cognitive Testing
The Questionnaire will be shortened for Cognitive Testing. Questions deleted from the full questionnaire
for the Cognitive Testing are:
•
•
•

Questions 8-11 – the loan
Questions 18-20 – The Neighborhood
65-90 except 67, 77 and 82 – Your Household

FHFA ASMB Cognitive Testing Guidance 2/9/16

3