Category Archives: CenTrax

File names can contain up to 8 characters (including numbers).  File names cannot begin with a number, cannot contain spaces and cannot contain symbols other than the underscore.  File Descriptions can be up to 40 characters and can contain spaces and symbols.  Both the Name and Description will appear on reports printed from CenTrax.

The Path is where the CenTrax files will be stored on your computer/laptop/network.  We strongly recommend all of your files be stored in the same Path and in a location that is backed up daily.

The Edit Year of the file tells the system which census data to use during geocode and the creation of maps, which CRA & HMDA edits apply and which demographic information to use when calculating borrower income levels.

New creates an empty file.  Add allows you to place a CenTrax file that has been removed or archived back on the list.

Lookup Tables set up the translation between the original data, which is usually a code, and a longer more useful description.  There are 12 fields in CenTrax that are part of the Lookup Table:  Account Type, Branch Codes, Compensating Factors, Data System ID, Call Codes, Collateral Codes, Purpose Codes, Line of Business, Officer, Products, Regions, and User Decline Reasons.  All of these fields are optional for data collection and are used for analysis only.

UDFs (User Defined Fields) are added to store information when there is no standard field in CenTrax for that data.  Each Bank in CenTrax is allowed 50 User Defined Fields.  UDFs can be numeric, character or date format.

Yes, UDFs can be changed in File Manager.  However, CenTrax files that do not have the same User Defined Field Definitions cannot be combined without losing some UDF information.  It is best to keep your Bank Configuration updated and to create files with consistent UDF information.

The Verification boxes at the bottom of the HMDA screen allow you to indicate that certain information has been validated.  When you check the box, it will prevent you from continuing to see the Quality edits associated with income or balance or Quality and certain CenTrax edits for race/gender/ethnicity.

The income and rate spread are numeric fields that do not allow letters.  All of these fields are automatically populated with “NA” as required when you create the HMDA LAR.

CenTrax does not calculate term.  You must import the term information.

The Account Number is required for all records and will be reported on your HMDA LAR and as part of the CRA LR Micro-Data. The Loan Number is optional and is for any other identifying data you wish to collect. Keep in mind that you may use different terms, such as application number, for these fields in your institution.

Features such as import definitions, filters and assessment areas in CenTrax capture the Last Used Date but do not show who used the feature or how it was used. Individual records in your data file contain the Entry Date (when the record was added to the file), the Maintenance Date (last time the record was modified in any way), and information on the User and what they did (imported, edited, geocoded, replaced, etc.). This only shows the last activity. We do not capture all historic activity at the record level.

Yes, you can manually enter a record in File>Data Entry / Edit. If you are entering a CRA record, go to the CRA button. If you are entering a HMDA record, go to the HMDA button. Select New and enter the transaction information. When all information is entered, click Save and then Validate to check for any edits.

You can locate a specific record by going to File>Data Entry / Edit (or Discovery>Research>Browse.), click Locate, select the Search By method, type in the information (Account Number, Name, Address, etc.) and click Search.

The Validate feature allows you to check your data for Validity, Syntactical, Quality and CenTrax edits and to test the geocode for this record.

The Replace tool is useful for changing the value of a field once it is part of the CenTrax data file. For example, if you import your data but are unable to collect certain fields, you may be able to populate the data with a Replace command. You can also use Replace commands to move data from one field to another and, with the addition of filters, can get very specific about what will happen.

No, there is no undo for the Replace command. Be very careful with Replace and call for assistance if you are not sure!

Update Derived Fields allows you to update derived data (such as demographic data) or recalculate data (such as rate spread) after it was initially collected.

No, your Import Definitions should be specific to the source system and the layout of the file, not the year.

From the Main Menu, go to File>Import>DAT Submission Files. You can import your HMDA.DAT, CRA Micro Data, and/or your Assessment Area data here.

CenTrax can accept five file formats: Fixed Length, Comma-Delimited, Tab-Delimited, Pipe-Delimited and Excel.

A complete list of standard fields can be found in Appendix A of the CenTrax User Guide.

No, your import file can be in any order. You will simply tell CenTrax where to look for the individual fields during the Import Definition process.

A Header Row is a descriptive row at the top of an extract file from another system. This optional row is strongly recommended in Delimited and Excel format files.

Yes, you can collect non-reportable fields in CenTrax. You can also collect any records that you wish whether they are reportable or not, such as consumer loans and deposit data.

Yes, one can be imported directly to the DTI field and the other can be placed in a User Defined Field.

The Data System ID is a one-digit code maintained in the Lookup Table. It identifies where your data was imported from (such as LaserPro or Jack Henry).

A Duplicate Account Number is when you have two or more records with identical Account Numbers.

Data Conversion allows you to modify certain fields in a specific way during import. For example, a small business loan is reported as an “01” not “1” or “small business” and a home purchase loan is a “1”, not “01” or “home purchase”. Conversion allows you to change the incoming value to the required value during import.

Most (but not all) character fields can be modified using Data Conversion. Date and numeric fields will be formatted during the import routine and cannot be converted. You cannot convert an incoming blank value using Data Conversion but this can be accomplished using Replace commands.

DataPro is a collection of functions that can be run independently or together. This tool helps to streamline many of the processes in your data collection efforts. The five functions are: Import, Delete, Replace, Geocode and Report.

Yes, everyone should use DataPro to import and, if needed, to manipulate and geocode the data.

You can delete records individually in File>Data Entry/Edit by locating the record and clicking Delete. You can also delete a group of records meeting common conditions using Delete in Discovery>Research or in DataPro. Records are “marked for deletion” at this point and can be recalled until the Remove function is run. Deleted records are automatically excluded from all reports.

Be careful when using this function! Records that have been removed cannot be recalled. To remove the records that have been marked for deletion, go to File>File Manager, click the file you want, and then click Maintenance. Choose Purge Deleted Records and click Process, Yes and then OK.

Records marked for deletion can be recalled individually by locating the record at File>Data Entry / Edit and clicking Recall. To recall all records that have been marked for deletion, go to File>File Manager, click the file you want then click Indexing. Choose Recall Deleted Records and click Process.

Yes, you can filter to locate records that have been marked for deletion. You will do this using the 4 Step Filter in Discovery>Research: Click New; Step 1 = Account Details; Step 2 = User ID; Step 3 = Begins with; Step 4 = D.

These edits show you information that is statistically unusual. Edits that check whether entries in the individual data fields or combinations of data fields conform to expected values. The loan/application register cannot be submitted until the filer either confirms the accuracy of all values flagged by quality edits in the CFPB HMDA Platform or corrects the flagged values and reuploads the updated loan/application register to the CFPB HMDA Platform. CRA records should not be submitted with any outstanding edits.

Edits that check whether there are valid values in each data field. A validity edit occurs, for example, if the contact person’s telephone number does not follow the format “999-999-9999.” The loan/application register cannot be submitted until the filer corrects all validity edit errors and reuploads the updated loan/application register to the HMDA Platform. Additionally, you must correct validity edits within your CRA LR prior to submission to the FFIEC. Validity edits represent factual errors. The field is either blank or conflicts with the data in another field. For example, HOEPA only applies to loans that are funded, so if you say a denied application is subject to HOEPA, you will get a validity edit.

These edits are written by us and are specific to how the software operates. Some will need to be corrected; some will need to be verified. A list of CenTrax edits can be found in the CenTrax User Guide appendix.

Edits that check whether the loan/application register is in the correct format and whether the data covers the correct filing year. A syntactical edit occurs, for example, if none of the rows in the loan/application register begin with the number two (2) to indicate that the following data fields contain information relating to the reported loan or application. The loan/application register cannot be submitted until the filer corrects all syntactical edit errors and reuploads the updated loan/application register to the HMDA Platform. These edits are rare in CenTrax. They prevent your data from being uploaded by the FFIEC after submission. If you have one, you must correct it for both HMDA and CRA.

To calculate the Rate Spread, CenTrax must have the following information: Term/Introductory Rate Term, APR, Rate Lock Date, and the Fixed / Variable Rate indicator.  If any of these fields are blank or invalid, the spread will not calculate.

The Spread Source indicates where the spread came from.  For example, was it manually entered, imported or did CenTrax calculate it. A list of values can be found in Appendix A of the CenTrax User Guide.

When the Spread Source is set to Permanent, it indicates that the user agrees with the spread and it will not be recalculated by CenTrax or allowed to be overwritten during data collection or importing.

The Rate Table is updated weekly but CenTrax checks for an updated table each time you log into CenTrax.  You must run Internet Explorer in “compatibility mode” for this to operate properly.  If you have questions about this, please contact your IT department or CenTrax Support.

The income, rate spread, and other fields are numeric fields that do not allow letters.  All these fields have a check box next to them that needs to be checked to indicate you want to submit a value of “NA” when you create the HMDA LAR.

You should check the “Not Reg Z” box when a record is not subject to the Reg Z requirements.  CenTrax cannot determine whether a record is subject to these rules, it can only bring to your attention the possibility that these rules may or may not apply based on validity and quality edits.

The Geocode Source indicates where the geocode came from.  For example, was it manually entered, imported or did CenTrax geocode it. A list of values can be found in Appendix A of the CenTrax User Guide.

A geocode source of “Permanent” prevents CenTrax from changing or overwriting the geocode currently on the record.  This should only be used if the geocode has been verified or obtained from an outside source and documentation is available to prove accuracy.

Yes, you can import geocode information provided it is included on your extract and the fields are mapped on the import definition.

When records are geocoded by CenTrax the demographic information is automatically applied at the time the geocode is applied.  When geocode is imported, demographic information is added for all records with valid geocode for the year of the active file.  Borrower Income levels require that the record contain both a valid geocode and an annual income.  Information on the values for each of the demographic fields can be found in Appendix A of the CenTrax User Guide.

The manual geocoder will allow you to try and obtain a valid geocode where CenTrax was unable to automatically geocode the record.

The FFIEC and CenTrax purchase their data from different vendors.  A difference between sources does not automatically mean that what you have in CenTrax is wrong.  Please refer to the whitepapers link on the main page of the website to read Geocode:  An Inconvenient Truth for more information about this topic.

Purging your geocode would be very rare.  You should ALWAYS contact Marquis prior to purging your geocode.

Your best option would be to locate the address using a mapping site such as Google Maps, Google Earth, or MapQuest and then match that to the maps in FFIEC to determine the geocode information.  There is an example of this in the Geocode chapter in the CenTrax User Guide.

No, if your address is located outside of an MSA, the MSA field should be blank.

A geocode exception is when an address cannot be geocoded based on the address provided.  A geocode error indicates that the geocode combination (state/county/tract/MSA) entered in CenTrax is not a possible combination for the year of the active data file.

Assessment Areas are reported on your CRA LR and will be the area on which your examiner will rate your institution.  Tract Groups are not reported therefore, they can be anything you want.  They are created the same way and you distinguish one from the other by checking the Assessment Area box on the setup form.

No, you should only check the Assessment Area box on the assessment areas that will be reported on you CRA LR.  Combined Assessment Areas do not meet the regulatory definition as they consist of multiple Assessment Areas.  These should be created as Tract Groups and be used for analytical purposes only.

Resubmission files are created in the same way as a submission file.  There is no difference in the process.  Please refer to the submission guidelines in the Documentation area for instructions or contact Technical Support for assistance as needed.

The FFIEC software is required for the encryption and submission of the CRA LR.  The CFPB HMDA Platform is required for validation of any remaining edits and submission of the HMDA LAR.

You should contact CenTrax Support or your Client Relationship Manager.   Our support team will discuss the differences with you and assist in troubleshooting your items.

No, you cannot submit late.  You must submit by the published deadline.

For HMDA, you can simply send the unencrypted file for the year you are submitting.  For CRA, you will need to create the file in Micro Loan Format.  We offer complete instructions for these steps in the Be Exam Ready guide which can be found in the Documentation section of our website.

Yes, CenTrax files can be exported in a variety of formats including database, comma-delimited and Excel.

Yes.  In the output section select File (rather than Printer or Screen).  You will be asked to provide a file name and location for the output file and then you will select a format such as Excel or PDF.

The ReportPro feature is designed to group together frequently run reports so they can be run as a series.

There are several reports available to answer a variety of questions but we would start with the Demographic Summary Report (first report in the Demographic section) and the Demographic Information for Assessment Area (in the Exam Tables generator).

There are a number of reports available to help you prepare for your CRA exam but we would start with the Exam Tables (in the Discovery menu), the Tract Activity report for gaps in lending (in the CRA group) and the Inside/Outside Summary for inside/outside of assessment area ratio (in the CRA group).  Maps can also be helpful when preparing for a CRA exam.

The best report for this is the File Summary in the System/Other group.

CenTrax offers two sampling options:  the Customer Account Register and SamplePro.  The Customer Account Register prints paper copies of the sampled records.  SamplePro creates a custom Excel spreadsheet containing fields you select.

Determining the list is up to you and will likely involve reports both from CenTrax and from other sources such as the FDIC’s website (such as the Market Share of Deposits or summary information at the institution level).  When determining who to include, you can take a variety of factors into consideration such as asset size, branch distribution, market area, strategic focus and regulatory agency.  Some examiners will list the peers they used during the CRA Exam in your Public Evaluation.  For Fair Lending, many regulators are using the Market Share report and considering any institution your peer if they have half your amount of lending to double your amount – regardless of other factors such as regulatory agency or size.  Once you have a list of peers selected you can add them to CenTrax under the Setup>Institution Groups list for use in targeted analysis.  You can contact your account manager at Marquis for further guidance on selecting peer institutions.

Yes, maps can be created under Discovery>Research>Maps.

Yes.  There is a user guide available to assist you in the Documentation section of our website.

Generally, no.  Updates to the census tract layers are provided by Marquis.  Unless you are doing a large amount of custom mapping, you do not need to update Maptitude.  If you are considering updating, please contact Marquis Support before you do to ensure compatibility with the CenTrax interface.

Yes, graphs can be created under Discovery>Research>Graphs.

Yes.  Branches can be shown at your option.  You will need to maintain the branch layer as changes are made.

You will need to use an outside mapping provider such as Google Maps or MapQuest to map individual addresses.  Some address mapping can be done in Maptitude, refer to the guide for Mapping with Maptitude in the Documentation section of our website for more information.

No, these items are automatically selected and cannot be modified.

The street layer contains too much detail and makes maps that are very difficult to read.  They are not currently an option in CenTrax maps.

There are a number of reports available to answer a variety of questions but we would start with Action Code Summary for underwriting (in the Fair Lending section) and the HMDA Threshold Report for pricing (in the HMDA section).  You may always contact your CRM to discuss Fair Lending monitoring opportunities.

LTV is not calculated by CenTrax, but you can import the field.  If you want CenTrax to perform the calculation you can import Property Value along with the Loan Amount and use a Replace command (contact Technical Support for help with the syntax of the command).

Yes, one can be imported directly to the DTI field and the other can be placed in a User Defined Field.  The DTI field should be used for the DTI value that will be part of your HMDA submission.

A compensating factor describes why you did not follow the bank policy regarding underwriting or pricing.  For example, if a borrower would have been declined based on their credit information but they were approved because of a longstanding relationship with your institution that would be a compensating factor.  You can collect up to 3 reasons per record.  This field is maintained in the Lookup Table and you can have up to 36 reasons.  Your institution may refer to these as “override codes”.

A Matched Pair is an applicant that is similarly situated to one or more other applicants based on a set of field tolerances.  For example, you may want to locate originated customers and compare them to declined applicants whose credits scores are within 10 points of each other.

Essentially, yes.  Matched Pairs are targeted using specific criteria you define in the system while sometimes Comparative File Reviews may rely on less specific samples of data.

Yes.  You can calculate disparities for underwriting and pricing and compare levels of assistance for race, gender, ethnicity, income and other demographic and applicant factors.

Control refers to the applicant you are comparing all other applicants.  This will generally include non-minorities, males and those applicants living in higher income and/or low-minority areas.

These are the applicants to whom you are comparing to the Control applicant.  This will generally include minorities, females and those applicants living in lower-income and/or high-minority areas.

Joint Race takes into consideration all 5 race fields selected by both applicants on a HMDA record.  The CenTrax User Guide contains a list of these values and descriptions and examples of the derived Joint Race in the appendix.

Yes, Joint Race considers all race selections of both borrowers while applicant race is just the race of the first applicant.

If you have the Fair Lending features then you can optionally have CenTrax assign a value for ethnicity and/or gender based on the name of the applicant.  Ethnicity indicates whether the surname of the applicant is Hispanic/Latino and Gender indicates whether the first name is considered male or female.  This is just a guess and you should use this information with that in mind.

If a name is common to both males and females the system will not assign it to either.  Sometimes the spelling will cause a name to proxy – Kelli and Kellie will proxy as female but Kelly does not proxy.  Using the long form of the name also can help – Patricia and Patrick both proxy but Pat does not; Christina and Christopher do, Chris does not.

We do not recommend you modify either the record or the information in the system based on your personal knowledge of a single borrower.  For example, the system will proxy Logan as a first name to male.  If you know the Logan in question is female, we do not recommend you change the information.  Your examiner will not know the borrower and cannot contact them to verify the information.  Proxy information is a tool and is not expected to be 100% accurate.

In general, first and last names are not specific to individual races.  Someone with the last name Smith could be American Indian, Black, White, etc. or could be of more than one race.  You can use Minority Level of the Census Tract as a proxy for race.   If the borrower is in a tract that is less than 50% minority they would be considered not minority; if they are in a tract that is greater than 50% minority, they would be considered a minority.

Currently CenTrax does not proxy any race fields including Asian.  If you wanted to set up your own proxy, you can build a list of names using filters or targeted high Asian population census tracts using the Tract Group feature.  This should be done with careful consideration and under the advice of your internal counsel.

No, data cannot be passed between CenTrax and c/dTrax.

From the Main Menu, choose Help>About CenTrax.

From the Main Menu, choose Help>About CenTrax.

If all of the menu options are grayed out, you need to set a file active under File>File Manager.  If you are unable to access File Manager, you need to activate a bank under Setup>Banks before you continue.

Your CenTrax System Administrator will need to reset your password.  The CenTrax Administrator’s Guide has instructions for this (in the Documentation section of this website) or you can contact CenTrax Support for assistance.

Passwords can be any length up to 16-digits and they must include 3 of the 4 password elements: upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and symbols.

A PDF version of the CenTrax User Guide can be found under Help>Help Topics or in the root of the CenTrax installation as CenTraxUserGuide.PDF.

CenTrax, all of its components and subdirectories and all of your data should be backed up daily.

Yes.

System maintenance utility is used to refresh and clean up CenTrax program files.  This feature does not touch data files you have created at File>File Manager.

System Maintenance can be run as often as you feel is appropriate.  If Assessment Areas are modified, added, or deleted, a message will appear suggesting that you perform maintenance.

The data should be maintained on your system until after your institution has been examined on that year for CRA or until the Public File requirement for HMDA is reached.

You can archive files at any time but we recommend files that have not been examined be maintained on your File Manager list.

To set the path for Aggregate Data, go to System>Preferences and under the System Paths tab, point to where the Aggregate Data was installed.  They will read HMDAXXXX or CRAXXXX (the XXXX indicates the year of the data).

The new Aggregate Data is typically released in the fall.

We offer a large variety of consulting services.  We encourage you to contact your Relationship Manager for complete information.

Yes, but you must enter your community development data as individual records in CenTrax.  You will not enter them as a single line entry as you do in the FFIEC software.  When entering these records, be sure to leave the CRA Type blank, set the CRA Qualified field to Yes and set the Community Development field to Yes.  You will also fill in the other required fields such as address, dates, amounts, etc.