Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion last week to advance bipartisan legislation that would relieve banks, especially smaller ones, from a handful of CFPB regulations. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, or S. 2155, was passed by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in December 2017. The vote on the motion to proceed will be on Tuesday, March 6. The act, introduced by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID, would roll back a number of ...

Two recent Government Accountability Office reports suggested regulators, including the CFPB, take additional steps to address compliance burdens for community banks and credit unions. Over 60 smaller depository institutions told GAO that regulations for reporting mortgage characteristics, reviewing transactions for potentially illicit activity, and disclosing mortgage terms were the most problematic.Data-requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act are great burdens, according to ...

The fight between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, and the CFPB’s Acting Director Mick Mulvaney regarding the payday lending rule is escalating. In a two-paragraph response released last week, Mulvaney rejected the accusation that his decision to retreat from payday lending was connected to the campaign contributions that payday lenders gave. “I rejected your insinuation – repeated three times in as many pages – that my actions as acting director are based on considerations other than than a careful examination ...

Fannie Mae is keeping a close watch on any future changes to the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule, saying whatever happens could have a “material effect on the quality and quantity of loans available for sale to us.” Roughly a year ago, the CFPB announced it would begin its statutorily-mandated assessment of the ATR and QM provisions. “The CFPB is required to assess the effectiveness of the regulations in light of its stated goals and to publish a report, after public comment, on whether ...

The CFPB issued its fifth request for information as a part of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s “call for evidence,” this one on external engagements. The bureau “seeks comments and information from interested parties to assist [it] in assessing its public and non-public external engagements,” it said. The CFPB asked for input on all aspects of conducting external engagements, including but not limited to field hearings, town halls, roundtables, and meetings of the Advisory Board and Councils to “maximize ...

In addition to the request for information the CFPB issued on its external engagement, the agency also asked for input on how it reports consumer complaint information.The agency is seeking comments from interested parties regarding “potential changes that can be implemented to the bureau’s public reporting practices of consumer complaint information, consistent with law, to consider whether any changes to the practices would be appropriate,” it said. Specifically, the CFPB is using this RFI to solicit feedback on ...

The CFPB is continuing its investigation into what went wrong at Equifax regarding the massive data breach the credit bureau suffered last year, according to a new 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last fall, Equifax said hackers stole personal data it had collected on some 143 million U.S. consumers. In the new filing, the company updated that estimate to almost 146 million Americans. The CFPB, of course, is not the only government body looking into the hack ... [Includes two briefs]

The cross-subsidization baked into current GSE guarantee-fee pricing could be made to work better, according to Urban Institute researchers. Current GSE pricing under guidelines from the Federal Housing Finance Agency are not fully adjusted to risk: low-risk borrowers pay a little more than they should and higher-risk borrowers pay a little less. Urban Institute researchers Jim Parrott and Laurie Goodman in a new paper say there are shortcomings in the existing cross-subsidy system that result in support going to borrowers who may not need it. “First, it does not effectively target those who need the help,” they said, adding that close to one of four beneficiaries of the subsidy are not in the low- to moderate-income category.

February was another uneven month in terms of single-family business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The two GSEs issued a total of $61.04 billion of single-family MBS last month, a 9.5 percent drop from January. A decline in February is not unusual; it’s near the lull in the purchase-mortgage market and has fewer business days. But business levels at the two GSEs were not at all the same. Fannie MBS issuance was down 14.1 percent from January, while Freddie production was up 0.5 percent. Still, month-to-month variation in business flows are common in the GSE market. Fannie and Freddie are also in the process of implementing new capital regimes during the first quarter under the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In the latest proposal for reforming the GSEs, the American Enterprise Institute this week recommended winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by way of “administrative action” to make room for the private market. The conservative think tank said a government guarantee for mortgage-backed securities is not necessary for an effective housing-finance system. Noting that the term of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt expires in January 2019, AEI said many of its recommendations could be implemented by whomever President Trump taps to take over the agency. “This is important since Congress has been unable to develop or agree on a workable housing-finance system since the financial crisis nine and a half years ago,” said AEI.