Late last week, the CFPB issue a final rule amending the Truth in Lending Act’s Regulation Z, stating that the 2009 Credit Card Act’s limits on fees apply only during the first year after an account is opened. The rule reverses a previous interpretation from the Federal Reserve back in 2011 which said that the act’s provisions (which limit fees a card issuer can charge to 25 percent of the account’s credit limit when first opened) also applied to fees charged before the account was opened...

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to launch an industry-wide review of housing counseling agencies, including those approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as other tax-exempt entities that provide mortgage foreclosure assistance, compliance experts warned. In fact, the IRS has started looking at providers that have applied for tax-exempt status in recent months and has denied three organizations in February 2013 alone, according to attorneys with the Washington, DC, law firm Venable. Housing counseling agencies can use the issues raised in the “private letter” rulings as a ...

A federal employee union and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have agreed to implement a seven-day employee furlough because of a severe mandatory reduction in HUD’s budget in FY 2013. The seven furlough days, which also will affect FHA operations, will apply to HUD’s entire 9,100-person work force and will be spread out to one for each pay period beginning May 24. HUD initially proposed a 13-day furlough plan, which was to start May 10, but agreed to reduce it to seven days and to move the start date to May 24. Under an agreement between HUD and the American Federation of Government Employees Council 222, furlough days will occur on ...

Last summer, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an advisory concerning warehouse lines of credit that was all but ignored by most players in the market. That is, until now. In a research note, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said the “new” OCC rules could force Texas Capi-tal Bank to increase the risk weighting of its warehouse lines to 100 percent, from its current designa-tion of 37 percent.

Legislation introduced this week by a bipartisan group of senators would seek to “jumpstart” the stalled effort in Congress to implement legislative reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but industry observers say the measure may also act to hinder cash grabs by government officials when the Treasury Department begins its “sweep” of the GSEs’ profits. The Jumpstart GSE Reform Act – sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, with co-sponsors Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, David Vitter, R-LA, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA – would prohibit any increase in Fannie’s and Freddie’s guaranty fee from offsetting other government spending. “The reality is that if Congress were to spend g-fee revenue from the GSEs on other programs, reforming these mortgage behemoths would become nearly impossible,” said Corker.

The Treasury Department is on board with a risk-sharing mandate from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that sets a $30 billion goal this year for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That’s the word from FHFA officials who discussed the matter with Inside The GSEs, but who did not want to be identified by name. “Treasury has taken a great interest in these things,” said one FHFA official. “They’re not ignoring what we’re doing.” The Treasury Department did not return telephone calls about the matter.

Republicans on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee got a tougher time from their Democrat counterparts than Richard Cordray got from the Republicans during this week’s hearing on his re-nomination to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Political observers see that as a sign of GOP confidence in the leverage they have in trying to compel President Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill to agree to some key changes to the bureau in exchange for installing Cordray for a second term at its helm. Republicans continue...

A number of industry representatives are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to carefully test its pending integrated consumer disclosure forms under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act before they are actually put into use. At issue is the CFPB’s proposal to conduct quantitative testing in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 of the performance of the current disclosures versus the proposed disclosures forthcoming later this year. “In 2008, the Department of Housing and Urban Development finalized...

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions urged the CFPB to make sure the bureau’s integrated disclosures on mortgage loans under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act are useful to consumers and impose as little burden as possible on credit unions. NAFCU Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Tessema Tefferi wrote to the CFPB about its proposal to conduct quantitative testing in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 of the performance of the current vs. proposed disclosures. NAFCU lodged serious concerns...

Banks with major Ginnie Mae portfolios – and even smaller firms – increased their purchases of delinquent mortgages out of MBS pools in the fourth quarter compared to the third as a way to save money and refinance troubled loans. According to an analysis by Inside FHA Lending, the top 50 Ginnie Mae issuers bought $12.65 billion of problem loans out trusts in fourth quarter compared to $11.17 billion in the third, an increase of 13 percent. “Once you buy the loan it goes into your portfolio,” said Tim Rood, a partner in The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based advisory firm. “You can try to re-perform it and then re-securitize it,” he said. Wells Fargo, the largest Ginnie Mae servicer in the nation with a portfolio of $412 billion, purchased ... [1 chart]