Cantor Loss Unlikely to Advance Hensarling, PATH Act Opportunity? House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s defeat this week by his GOP primary Tea Party challenger Dave Brat is already shaking up the House leadership with implications for key lawmakers affecting the GSE reform debate.Cantor, R-VA, will close out his term at the end of this year but has announced he will give up his post as House majority leader effective July 31. Republican leadership could hold elections to replace Cantor as early as next week. Cantor has endorsed Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, to succeed him as majority leader.

Meaningful housing finance reform that would include “fixing” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rather than euthanizing them outright, is still possible in 2014 and doesn’t require Congressional action, according to an expert speaking on the topic this week on Capitol Hill. Speaking at a government-sponsored enterprise forum sponsored by Investors Unite, Joshua Rosner, managing director at Graham Fisher & Co., said that GSE reform should consist of repurposing rather than eliminating Fannie and Freddie. “We shouldn’t reinvent...

A potential conflict over funding of the FHA’s loan-quality improvement efforts and, possibly, of a pilot program that seeks to make broader use of housing counseling in FHA origination and servicing may be brewing as both the House and Senate moved towards finalizing their separate versions of fiscal 2015 appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 29 to 1 to pass S. 2438, its FY 2015 HUD funding bill. Notably, it contains a provision authorizing HUD to charge and collect a new fee from FHA lenders in an amount of no more than 4 basis points of the original principal balance of mortgages originated by the lender that were insured during the previous fiscal year. According to the Senate provision, the new fee would be used...

A North Carolina federal judge announced from the bench this week he is considering dismissing a Justice Department fraud case against Bank of America, citing a less than overwhelming preponderance of evidence. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn said during a hearing that he is leaning toward shutting down the DOJ’s case as per the March recommendation of U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer, who found that the Justice Dept. has failed to prove the bank made “material” false statements to the Federal Housing Finance Board. “DOJ may not have...

Rohit Chopra, the CFPB’s student loan ombudsman, appeared before the Senate Budget Committee last week and indicated the bureau remains intent on holding student loan servicers to account for their treatment of struggling borrowers. “Like many of the improper and unnecessary foreclosures experienced by many homeowners, I am concerned that inadequate servicing has contributed to America’s growing student loan default problem, now topping 7 million Americans in default on over $100 billion in balances,” Chopra said. “To ensure that we do not see a repeat of the breakdowns and chaos in the mortgage servicing market, it will be...

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, is among those leading a legislative push by House and Senate Democrats to protect college students from what they see as unfair banking practices involving campus-sponsored financial products. The legislation would extensively rely upon the CFPB to help accomplish lawmakers’ objectives in this regard. The House bill, entitled the Curbing Abusive Marketing Practices with University Student Debit Cards Act (otherwise known as the CAMPUS Debit Cards Act), would end...

A handful of Democrat Senators are urging CFPB Director Richard Cordray to bring an end to what they consider to be predatory small-dollar storefront and online payday lending. “Sadly, the evidence shows that these loans trap consumers in a cycle of debt in which consumers end up owing more than the initial loan amount, an appalling practice that exploits the financial hardship of hard working families and exhibits a deeply flawed business model that does not consider borrowers’ ability to repay the loan,” the senators said in a letter to the director. “The CFPB was established...

As last month drew to a close, the leadership of the House Financial Services Committee decided to postpone a May 29 markup of a number of pending bills, including six related to the CFPB, after the death of the mother of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, the ranking member of the committee. The markup has been rescheduled for Tuesday, June 10, the committee announced late last week. Among the CFPB-related bills pending before the committee is...

The CFPB recently convened a small business review panel as per the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to discuss potential amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Kelly Thompson Cochran, acting assistant director for regulations at the CFPB, said in a recent blog posting. The amendments made by the Dodd-Frank Act expand the scope of information relating to mortgage applications and loans that must be compiled, maintained and reported under HMDA, including the ages of loan applicants and mortgagors, information relating to the points and fees payable at origination, and the difference between the annual percentage rate associated with the loan and benchmark rates for all loans. Other new inclusions are...

The Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General has begun an evaluation of the CFPB’s controversial headquarters renovation budget in response to a request from Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-NC, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the OIG revealed in its semi-annual report to Congress. “To address this congressional request, our objectives are to evaluate, with respect to the CFPB’s headquarters renovation project, (1) the capital budgeting and approval process, (2) the scope and justification for cost estimates, and (3) the use of competitive procedures,” the OIG said. It expects...