Inside the Beltway

At its latest board meeting, the National Credit Union Administration approved a final rule amending the chartering and field-of-membership rules for credit unions applying for a community charter approval, expansion, or conversion.

The change was among four items approved by the board.

Read on for more details from the meeting.

A new report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that mortgage servicers might be failing to provide statutorily required information to borrowers about forbearance plans.

In response to the report, FHFA told the OIG that it shared its concern that servicers might not be adequately informing homeowners that forbearance is available to them.

Read on for details from the OIG report.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson joined acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in an event to raise awareness of the way in which Opportunity Zones can receive credit under new regulatory rules.

The event took place in Charleston, S.C., and brought together 50 bankers, developers, and advocates from throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Read on for more details from the event.

Months after ruling on the constitutionality of the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Supreme Court has agreed to address the issue for another federal agency.

The Supreme Court granted writs of certiorari to a pair of cases, Collins v. Mnuchin and Mnuchin v. Collins, which will be consolidated and heard in the court’s fall term.

Read on for more details about the decision.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) recently released its annual report to Congress detailing the financial condition of minority credit unions.

The report discussed the agency’s efforts to preserve and promote the formation of minority depository institutions.

Read on for more details from the report and NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood.

The process for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to change its field of membership rule has taken nearly four years, but the credit union regulator finally got some certainty when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal made by the American Bankers Association to the rule.

NCUA promulgated the rule in October 2016, but the banking association filed suit two months later, and the rule has been debated in court since.

Read on for details and reaction from credit union and banking advocates.

Senate and House Democrats introduced companion legislation which would create an opportunity for small businesses which already have received a Paycheck Protection Program loan to be able to receive a second loan.

The legislation includes restrictions primarily based on a demonstrable loss of revenue during the pandemic, and would extend the period in which companies could apply for a loan through at least the end of the year.

Read on for details from the new legislation.

House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) have introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to rescind the Community Reinvestment Act rule promulgated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The agency finalized the rule a day before Comptroller Joseph Otting announced his resignation.

Read on for details of the resolution.

A group of Republican senators have written the Office of Management and Budget to suggest the phasing out of all federal regulations which have been waived because of the pandemic.

The group, led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, said the rules should go through a regulatory review process to determine whether they should be modified, repealed, or maintained.

Read on for more from the request.

Looking to provide a path forward for lenders considering small-dollar products to offer consumers, federal financial regulators recently issued principles for conducting small-dollar lending.

The principles were released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Read on for details from the agencies’ statement and principles.