A district judge in Wisconsin ordered two now-defunct mortgage relief firms and their principals to pay $59 million over foreclosure abuses. The payment includes $21.7 million in consumer restitution and a $37.3 million fine.

The House Financial Services Committee passed eight bills on debt collection, including prohibiting the CFPB from issuing any rule that would allow collectors to contact borrowers with unlimited text messages and emails.

The bureau issued an interpretive rule that certain screening and training requirements under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act do not apply to loan originators with temporary authority.

Congress is mulling legislation that would allow lenders to rely on technical standards other than Appendix Q to determine a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio under the ability-to-repay rule. The move is aimed at mitigating the risk from the expiration of the qualified-mortgage patch.

The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a recent court filing said the agency’s past enforcement actions can survive even if the U.S. Supreme Court finds its structure unconstitutional.

The bureau is seeking reapproval for its modified disclosure testing plan to allow industry stakeholders an opportunity to comment. The move indicates that the test results can influence CFPB’s rulemaking.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide assistance toward the development of new qualified mortgage standards.

New York’s governor recently directed the New York State Department of Financial Services to investigate instances of alleged mortgage deed fraud in Brooklyn.

The CFPB will hold a symposium Wednesday to discuss data collection on small business lending; Supreme Court sets briefing schedule in Seila Law v. CFPB.

Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina questioned whether the collection requirements under HMDA contribute to lending discrimination towards the LGBTQ community.