The FFIEC Geocoding System is a specialized system primarily developed for financial institutions to meet reporting requirements, but is also used for demographic information. It provides information based on street addresses and can fail for various reasons. If it fails, a backup is available. It is important to choose the appropriate date for accurate data.
The FFIEC is the Federal Financial Institutions Review Board. Geocoding is a practice where standardized tabular data is matched to a specific location on Earth using set coordinates. FFIEC Geocoding System is a specialized geocoding system that was primarily developed for use by some financial institutions to meet reporting requirements. It is, however, used by others to obtain demographic information, such as population and income data.
The FFIEC geocoding system was created primarily for financial institutions that are required to file reports under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). All information provided by the system is based on street addresses. You can use it to find information about the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), state and county, as well as the census tract code.
The FFIEC geocoding system interface is configured to work with street addresses combined with city and state information, on the one hand, or a zip code, on the other. All fields are not mandatory and apartment numbers must be omitted. It is important to enter the exact street name accurately: substitutions such as street for street or avenue will not work. Also, PO Boxes and rural roads will fail.
Failures can also occur for other reasons. For example, the geocoding information database on which the FFIEC Geoding System is based may not contain information for street addresses if they have been added more recently. In addition, the system may provide inaccurate information in case of exchanges in the post office responsible for delivering the mail or in any case in which the post office delivering the mail does not match the zip code of the actual address. In this case, the system may fail by providing incorrect MSA and census information.
If the FFIEC geocoding system fails to recognize an address, a backup is available. A street map of the area is displayed and, using a zoom function, the closest cross streets to the address can be located, allowing the user to find the appropriate census tract codes. Census tract maps and additional tools available at the US Census Bureau site can provide additional assistance and serve as an additional backup.
It is important for the proper functioning of the system that the appropriate date is chosen. There are three years of data to choose from. If you need geocoding data for an unavailable year, the information may not be valid.
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