All 45 Republicans in the U.S. Senate have filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in NLRB v. Noel Canning, the case in which President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were declared unconstitutional. “The president’s decision to circumvent the American people by installing his appointees at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was continuing to hold sessions, and without obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate, is an unprecedented power grab,” Senate...

Sen. Rob Portman, R-OH, is reportedly working behind the scenes to try to thaw the ice jam among his GOP colleagues in the Senate that continues to thwart movement on a vote of President Obama's second nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the CFPB. The Capitol Hill publication Roll Call, citing a senior GOP aide, said that Portman has been meeting with Cordray recently, as well as bringing together members of both parties to try to find some common ground on changes to the bureau that would address Republican complaints...

Scrutiny of and accountability from the CFPB is not just for Republicans on Capitol Hill these days. Thirteen Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee – including several African American lawmakers – have asked the CFPB to provide them information related to the agency’s scrutiny of indirect auto loans. “As representatives of both consumers and small businesses (auto dealers), we want to continue our work with you to ensure that lending practices in the auto, mortgage and credit card...

The CFPB recently issued some policy guidance on how states may use the Uniform State Test developed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry as part of a qualified written test under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008. Section 1505(d) of the SAFE Act requires that state-licensed mortgage loan originators pass a “qualified written test.” Under the SAFE Act, this qualified written test must be developed by the NMLSR. A qualified written test must adequately measure the applicant’s...

The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Housing Policy Council jointly wrote the CFPB recently with a variety of additional changes to improve lenders’ certainty when they use the ability-to-repay rule’s Appendix Q to define the debt-to-income ratio for qualified mortgages under the general definition. The groups emphasized reducing what they saw as an over-reliance on subjective qualifications that could require lenders to use manual underwriting processes when they would prefer to use automatic underwriting...

CFPB, FTC Host Roundtable This Week on Data Integrity in Debt Collection. The CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission are slated to host a roundtable on June 6, 2013, to examine the flow of consumer data throughout the debt collection process. The regulators plan to bring together consumer advocates, credit issuers, collection industry members, state and federal regulators, and academics to exchange information on a range of issues. Topics on the discussion agenda include the amount of documentation and other information...

The measure would amend the state constitution to authorize reverse mortgages for purchase of a homestead property in Texas.

Despite the vocal support of progressives, especially advocates of principal reduction of GSE-held loans, Rep. Watt’s nomination to head FHFA is far from a sure thing.

Any successor to the GSEs that operates with a federal guarantee should charge the same guaranty fee price for all sellers, regardless of size, the trade group says.

We continue to hear reports that certain commercial banks are discouraging their residential loan officers to take the state test and get licensed.