Mortgage

Not unlike her first stint in the congressional hot seat as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Kathy Kraninger addressed changes to the bureau’s approach to enforcement and fulfilling its statutory mission during her second semi-annual report to Congress.

Multiple congressional representatives, including a former enforcement officer, picked apart Kraninger’s method for determining appropriate amounts for fines and restitution included in settlement agreements.

Learn what insights came out of the hearings. 

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently announced that it will push back the compliance date for its current expected credit loss (CECL) standard again for most lenders.

Specifically, the delay would apply to small reporting companies (as defined by the SEC), non-SEC public companies and private companies.

Find out more details about the delay and a new interagency policy statement on CECL changes.

Financial industry advocates noted their concerns about draft legislation on third-party vendor authority with regard to third-party cloud storage providers in letters to House leaders.

The draft legislation proposes to amend the Bank Service Company Act to cover vendors of credit unions and entities supervised by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to the same extent as it covers banks and savings associations.

Find out what financial trade associations had to say about the proposed measure.

The increasing popularity of alternative and innovative means for verifying mortgage borrowers’ ability to repay their loans has caused financial entities and regulators to reevaluate rules and statutes implemented to protect those same borrowers from the types of predatory lending that contributed to the financial crisis.

Many reason that some of the safeguards put in place by the Dodd-Frank Act and federal regulators are too restrictive and offered various suggestions for addressing that issue.

Find out more details about stakeholder suggestions.

President Donald Trump has nominated Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Montgomery to serve as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a position in which he would have many of the same responsibilities he currently assumes as HUD’s assistant secretary and head of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Numerous industry trade associations applauded Montgomery’s nomination, as they did when he was nominated to lead FHA in 2017.

Learn more about the implications of the nomination.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a rule finalizing specific provisions of the agency’s May 2019 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) regarding data collection requirements for small entities.

The rule also provides clarity regarding the applicability of partial HMDA exemption provisions not covered in previous rulemakings – namely with regard to mergers and acquisitions.

Learn more details about how the rule will impact the financial industry. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae announced Thursday that Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Maren Kasper will be stepping down effective Oct. 18 for a role in the private sector.

Kasper has served as Ginnie Mae’s executive vice president since June 2017 and also assumed the role of acting president following Michael Bright’s resignation in January.

Find out more details about what responsibilities she will leave behind.

Less than two years removed from its first eClosing, Quicken Loans announced Monday that it will become the first lender to offer eClosing capabilities in all 50 states.

Quicken said it can perform hybrid closings in all 50 states in transactions facilitated by Amrock. Hybrid transactions would require papering out three to five documents, depending on the state.

Learn more about the company’s nationwide eClosing capabilities.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be allowed to recapitalize under an agreement signed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury Department allowing both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to retain billions of dollars in dividend payments once every 12-month dividend period.

Allowing the GSEs to build capital was among the more than 50 recommendations included in Treasury’s plan for reforming the secondary housing market, and aligns with industry advocacy efforts.

Learn more details about the signed agreement.

In a move that has major implications for mortgage lenders and appraisers, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a joint rule to increase the threshold for residential real estate transactions requiring an appraisal from $250,000 to $400,000.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s required letter weighing in on the measure closely reflected contentions put forth by financial institutions and the trade associations.

Learn more details about the final rule and stakeholder reactions.