Consumer complaints overall continued their downward trajectory in the fourth quarter, but it was a different story when it came to areas such as student loans and credit reports, both of which shot upwards on an annual basis. Overall, total gripes from end users of the financial system fell 24.1 percent year over year and 23.1 percent from the third quarter of 2017 to the fourth. But criticisms about student loans surged 109.9 percent on an annual basis, despite a drop of 30.1 percent from 3Q17 to 4Q17. Credit reports were similarly slammed, with a 99.8 percent leap in complaints year over year, a 32.2 percent fall off quarter to quarter notwithstanding. On the other hand [includes exclusive data chart] ...

Both GSEs are expected to need a draw from the U.S. Treasury, thanks to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will reduce the corporate tax rate and result in $15.3 billion in one-time charges for the pair. With the tax rate being reduced from 35 percent to 21 percent, the GSEs now have to measure their net deferred tax assets using the new rate. According to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Fannie Mae expects to take a one-time charge of $10.0 billion and Freddie Mac is bracing for a $5.3 billion charge.

Some observers think that resolving the long-running conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year is closer than it has ever been, but they also say political differences present a number of challenges. There has been an uptick in momentum the past few months and the recent deal between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury that allows the GSEs to retain $3 billion in capital is an optimistic sign of progress to many. Moreover, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is working on a draft of a GSE reform bill, and the House Financial Services Committee has held a handful of hearings on GSE reform issues in the fourth quarter in preparation for drafting legislation.

Mortgage lenders pressing to get compliant with the new data collection and reporting require-ments under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act got a bit of a reprieve, as the Consumer Financial Pro-tection Bureau and the other prudential regulators announced they would take “good-faith efforts” ap-proach to enforcement.

The Department of Housing and Urban Affairs plans to act on two new rules in 2018 relating to allowable fees and charges on VA loans as well as the type of loans that are “qualified mortgages.”

The Community Home Lenders Association last week asked CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to delay implementing the bureau’s pending new data collection and reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which are slated to kick in Jan. 1, 2018. The trade group’s more general concerns are, first, that HMDA requirements should be balanced and tailored to the objectives. “The Trump administration has pledged to address overly burdensome regulations which have a negative impact on the ability of private sector finance providers to make credit available to consumers,” said the CHLA, which represents mostly small, independent mortgage bankers. The industry organization reminded Mulvaney it has issued reports and written letters this year detailing how excessive regulations and the threat of ...

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee recently passed a bipartisan measure that will provide some noteworthy relief from a handful of CFPB regulations, especially for small and regional lenders. Under S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, certain mortgages originated and retained in portfolio by banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in total assets would be deemed qualified mortgages under the bureau’s ability-to-repay rule. The act also would provide regulatory relief under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act for small depository institutions that have originated less than 500 closed-end mortgage loans or less than 500 open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years. The Government Accountability Office would ...

Speaking during a recent public appearance in Washington, DC, Mark Calabria, chief economist in the Executive Office of the Vice President, discussed the Trump administration’s priorities when it comes to regulatory reform, and the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule was one of the items on the list. “Looking at the mortgage finance system as a whole is critical, as is reviewing the substantive rule-makings that came out of the Dodd-Frank Act,” said Calabria, former director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and a former Capitol Hill staffer involved in drafting the framework for the conservatorships of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We really did expand the regulatory framework with things like the qualified mortgage ...

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that examiners in the agency’s Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection need to do a better and more consistent job of reviewing lenders’ compliance with the CFPB’s ability-to-repay and loan originator compensation rules. The ATR rule directed most mortgage lenders to make a reasonable and good-faith determination, at or before loan consummation, that a consumer would have a reasonable ability to repay a residential mortgage loan according to its terms. Some lenders and loan programs are exempt from this requirement. The LO comp rule placed limits on loan originator compensation and imposed new requirements on loan originators. Both rules took effect Jan. 10, 2014....

The three most notable aspects of Janet Yellen’s final press conference as the chair of the Federal Re-serve were the expected comments in support of the central bank’s 25 basis point rate increase, positive economic expectations of pending tax reform efforts, and confirmation the Fed is unlikely to provide much information about its balance sheet reduction going forward.