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.

The House Financial Services Committee canceled a vote on a bill intended to mitigate the risk from the expiration of the qualified-mortgage patch.

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

CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger was grilled by Democratic lawmakers regarding enforcement actions during hearings on Capitol Hill. Other topics such as fair lending, innovation policies and qualified-mortgage patch were also on the agenda.

A coalition of the nation’s largest lenders, trade groups and consumer advocacy groups have suggested the elimination of the DTI ratio cap and the associated Appendix Q. However, the MBA and Democratic lawmakers have urged the bureau to tread cautiously.

The Treasury Department in its housing-finance reform plan has asked the CFPB to end the qualified mortgage “patch” as scheduled and establish a bright-line rule in its place.

Early comments on how to revise the qualified mortgage patch are mostly from smaller lenders who favor a higher debt-to-income ratio limit.

With the qualified mortgage “patch” scheduled to sunset in 2021, lenders are pushing for changes to the Appendix Q documentation requirements amid a broader debate over the debt-to-income limit.