Kathy Kraninger, now into her fourth month as CFPB director, seems to have adopted an industry-friendly approach at the agency, but she’s being less dramatic than her predecessor Mick Mulvaney.

In a rather unusual move, the CFPB earlier this month released written guidance to clarify certain aspects of the integrated mortgage dis-closure rule. This left many industry watchers looking at clues as to whether it signals a change in the agency’s attitude towards written guidance.

The CFPB plans to save $20 million in spending in fiscal 2019, with major budget cuts in its supervision, enforcement and fair lending division.

Republican lawmakers want the CFPB to be led by an independent inspector general appointed by the president.

The House Financial Services Committee will target White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney over his previous role as the interim head of the CFPB, said Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the HFSC, one of the most powerful House committees.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidance explaining the confusion in the last couple of weeks caused by conflicting VA regulations and legislation. The latest guidance from the VA, Circular 26-11-16, updates the method for calculating funding fees based on a provision in H.R. 2646, the Veterans Health Facilities Capital Improvement Act of 2011, which President Obama signed into law on Oct. 5. H.R. 2646, which sets funding for the construction of various VA medical facilities, also provides for higher funding fees for VA loans, contrary to funding fee changes announced by the VA on Sept. 8. Previous VA guidance notes ...

The Multistate Mortgage Committee of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators last week came out with examiner guidelines for use in reviewing non-depository mortgage loan originators’ and creditors’ compliance with the Federal Reserve Board’s mortgage loan originator compensation rules. The guidelines are intended to promote standardization and consistency within the state regulatory community regarding enforcement of the FRB’s rules. The Fed’s final rules for closed-end credit under Regulation Z introduced loan originator compensation restrictions to protect consumers against the unfairness, deception and abuse that can arise with certain loan origination compensation practices. The rules generally prohibit paying loan originators on the basis of loan terms and conditions, dual compensation to originators by consumers and any other person, and “steering” consumers to loans to receive greater compensation.

Ginnie Mae in a conference call with its MBS issuers said it is going to be focusing its attention on new definitions related to data collection, and urged industry participants to provide feedback. Currently, the loan-to-value ratio definition stands as the ratio of the current unpaid principal balance amount to the appraised value, estimated value or purchase price of the property, and that value must include the upfront mortgage insurance premium. Under the new definition, however, the LTV ratio would be based on the original principal balance, said Ginnie officials. This includes any mortgage insurance premium to lower the sale price or...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General recommended that an approved FHA lender be ordered to indemnify HUD against any future losses on a number of loans with material underwriting deficiencies. An audit of Ameritrust Mortgage Bankers, based in Lake Success, NY, found that 11 of the 20 FHA-insured mortgages that the lender had originated failed to meet FHA underwriting guidelines and that a quality control plan did not meet agency requirements. Inadequate verification and documentation of borrowers’ income, assets, liabilities and credit histories resulted in actual losses of $183,327 on one loan and potential losses of more than $2.7 million on 10 loans, for total losses of more than $2.9 million, the audit found. In addition, Ameritrust officials allegedly charged ...