The CFPB wants to replace the debt-to-income ratio limit with a price-based threshold in the general qualified-mortgage definition. The bureau also proposed extending the GSE patch until the effective date of a new QM definition.

Some trade and consumer groups also expressed concerns over the timing of the request for information, calling upon the CFPB to extend the comment period.

When it comes to coronavirus-related complaints, more than one in five criticisms are about mortgages, according to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger.

There is no doubt the CFPB will extend the qualified-mortgage patch, but whether it will push ahead with changes to the framework is another question, according to industry attorneys.

Industry stakeholders have 30 more days to submit their feedback on a proposed rule that would require debt collectors to make certain disclosures under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

During a congressional oversight hearing, House Financial Services Committee members grilled CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger on the bureau’s interpretation of the abusiveness standard, plans to reform the qualified-mortgage rule and the controversial RESPA bulletin.

Fitch Ratings raised concerns about the CFPB’s plan to move away from the debt-to-income ratio in defining a qualified mortgage. It believes the DTI ratio is a better predictor of borrower default risk.

The CFPB intends to do away with the debt-to-income metric as a mortgage underwriting factor and instead consider an alternative to assess a borrower’s ability to repay. The news drew mixed reactions.

CFPB updates HMDA small entity compliance guide; the bureau files a lawsuit against Citizens Bank for credit card dispute issues; industry and consumer groups seek a delay in risk-retention rule revision.

Important mortgage regulatory changes and robust examinations of financial institutions are on the consumer watchdog’s 2020 agenda, but all decisions are up in the air with the battle over the bureau’s constitutionality looming in court.