It’s possible that mortgage lenders and servicers will see the CFPB during the tenure of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney use the five-year “look back” the bureau is required to perform to make significant changes to a pair of major rulemakings: the Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosure rule (TRID) and the ability-to-repay rule. Donald Lampe, a partner with Morrison & Foerster law firm in Washington, DC, explained, “In Dodd-Frank, there’s a five-year required regulatory review, and there are two of those regulatory reviews that are still under advisement: one for TRID and the other for the ATR/qualified mortgage rule. “If I’m thinking about 2018, I feel pretty confident to say that those processes bear careful attention ...
While most of the universe of CFPB watchers were focusing on the legal struggle between Acting Director Mick Mulvaney and Deputy Director Leandra English or the possibility that President Trump might name another fierce critic of the CFPB, such as Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, to head up the agency, it looks like a stealth candidate has entered the game. National Credit Union Administration Chairman Mark McWatters is that person. McWatters’ name has suddenly been floated by various industry observers and insiders as being on the short list of possible nominees for the consumer bureau. Nominated by President Obama to both the NCUA board and then to head the Export-Import Bank (the latter nomination being blocked by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL) ...
CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has less than 200 calendar days left to occupy the director’s chair, so industry officials have been wondering what they can expect from the bureau as long as he’s in charge.According to some top compliance attorneys, the CFPB will be far less aggressive towards the industry, but hardly provide the corporate love-fest opponents of the AD fear. Laurence Platt, a partner with the Mayer Brown law firm in Washington, DC, told Inside the CFPB, “Like former Sen. George Romney’s famous prediction about the U.S. getting out of Vietnam, I expect a ‘phased withdrawal.’” The CFPB “will continue to supervise ‘covered persons,’ but, whether it is supervision or enforcement, I expect the CFPB’s use of ...
Kristen Sutton Mork will leave her post as staff director of the House Financial Services Committee to become chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is reviewing four possible options to update the credit scoring systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency said while the current credit score model is a reasonable predictor of default, it is seeking input on whether an alternative is necessary and what impact it would have on the current credit score requirements. The request for input was issued in late December. Options include requiring a single type of score on every loan, requiring two different scores, allowing lenders to decide which score to use or permitting multiple scores through a waterfall approach.
Fannie Affordable Housing Challenge. Fannie Mae launched a $10 million challenge to help address the affordable housing crisis. Through the Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge, the GSE will commit $10 million over two years to attract promising ideas that will help alleviate affordable housing issues. Fannie expects to receive proposals from across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Maria Evans, Fannie’s vice president of sustainable communities’ partnership and innovation, said, “With the Challenge, we are looking for new concepts, designs, and ways of solving our nation’s affordable housing issues from innovators who are working inside and outside of the traditional housing industry. Great ideas can come from anywhere.” The goal is to...
With new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac draws on the Treasury’s line of credit now imminent because of tax cut legislation, one GSE shareholder says the payments should be accounted for as paybacks for money that was unfairly taken. Gary Hindes, a Fannie shareholder, has argued unsuccessfully that the Treasury sweep of GSE profits violates state law in Delaware and Virginia, where Fannie and Freddie are incorporated. Having lost the first round, the case is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In a statement released this week, Hindes blasted the agreement between the GSEs and Treasury.
Fair housing advocates and civil rights groups wrote the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to express concerns about not having a seat at the table as lawmakers draft GSE reform legislation. The groups, which include the Center for Responsible Lending, National Fair Housing Alliance and the NAACP, said current House and Senate proposals would do significant harm by locking out the very borrowers who depend on a future system, resulting in devastation to a recovering market. “Our constituents have a strong stake in the outcome of any legislative proposals in this area, and we are alarmed that we have not been invited to offer...
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