Regulatory relief got a sudden and surprising boost on Capitol Hill early this week when the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee unexpectedly passed a bipartisan package of provisions making it easier for lenders to extend mortgage credit to borrowers.

Big changes aren’t likely to take place at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the after-math of Director Richard Cordray’s surprise departure at the end of this month, but industry observers expect a significant shift in enforcement and supervision when a new leader is in place.

Republicans are reportedly on board with the federal MBS guarantee but reluctant to backstop future guarantor entities…

Lenders have complained about misleading and confusing labels when self-reporting loan defects…

“By contrast, the 2017 HECM portfolio has a negative capital ratio of 19.84 percent and a negative economic net worth of $14.5 billion,” HUD said in its summary.

Upon Cordray’s announcement, Rep. Hensarling declared: “We are long overdue for new leadership at the CFPB, a rogue agency that has done more to hurt consumers than help them…”

Also likely to pass: a bill that would exempt from property appraisal requirements a mortgage of $250,000 or less if it appears on the loan creditor’s balance sheet for at least three years…

PIMCO also has been buying non-agency mortgages, holding the paper in one of the funds it manages.

However, a source familiar with the matter stressed that the GSE is merely considering a construction-to-perm product and nothing more.

Keep in mind, that one of the first things HUD did under Trump was to kill a planned MIP reduction...