The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin a new rulemaking on qualified mortgages to conform to Dodd-Frank reform act mandates. Observers say the move is simply housekeeping, since the previous QM interim final rule (IFR) requirements were rendered moot with the enactment of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act back in May. The new law, also known as the Dodd-Frank reform act, superseded the previous rule’s seasoning and recoupment requirements for VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans. Specifically, the act removed the category of rebuttable presumption for IRRRLs deemed as QM under the interim final rule. It also imposed new requirements that were not considered at the time the IFR was issued. The VA did not say whether changes were made ...
Bright’s Confirmation Delayed. With the Senate adjourning last week for the midterm elections, Michael Bright’s confirmation as president of Ginnie Mae will have to wait. President Trump nominated Bright, executive vice president and chief operating officer, last May and he was confirmed by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in August. Ginnie Mae has been without a permanent head since January 2017 when former president Ted Tozer stepped down. Bright has since been acting president of the agency. Both the House and the Senate will be back on Nov. 13 for a lame-duck session. President Trump Wants 5 Percent Budget Cuts from Cabinet Agencies. President Trump has directed his Cabinet secretaries to trim 5 percent from their respective agencies’ FY2019 budget request. Some agencies can do more than 5 percent, he suggested. It is unclear which of the ...
The Department of Veterans Affairs has spiked an interim final rule on “qualified mortgages” in favor of a new separate rule establishing new QM standards.
The House bill is currently at the Senate desk, awaiting nods from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, and Ranking Minority Member Sherrod Brown…