Inside the Beltway

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) wrote to Senate Banking Committee leaders urging them to expand statutory requirements pertaining to the protection of personally identifiable information (PII).

ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey wrote in the letter that her organization supports current information privacy standards that apply to banks and believes that all entities that collect and store PII should be subject to them as well, including prudential regulators and third parties.

Find out more about the association’s stance on the issue of information privacy standards.

Recognizing that phishing is an ever-growing cybersecurity threat, the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released an infographic designed to highlight the impact it is having on consumers and the financial industry.

The infographic offers advice for how people can identify potential scams, how to protect themselves against phishing attempts and how to notify the proper authorities if they suspect such an attempt.

Read on to get more details about phishing attacks and methods to avoid being victimized.

Financial trade advocates wrote to House officials opposing legislation that would impose a 5 percent tax on cross-border remittances to fund the completion of President Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

H.R. 85, known as the “Fund and Complete the Border Wall Act,” was introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) with support from 10 Republican co-sponsors.

Read on to find out why the trades are against the proposal.

After four straight weeks of declines, mortgage applications saw a modest increase of 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Feb. 15, 2019, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

MBA Associate Vice President of Industry Surveys and Forecasts Joel Kan noted that such results could be indicative of positive momentum going forward.

Read on to learn more details.

The delinquency rate hit an 18-year low for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey.

MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh pointed out that the fourth quarter saw improvements in states adversely impacted by natural disasters these last two years.

Read on to learn more details.

The Federal Reserve recently reported that 2018 ended with a notable increase in consumer credit. Statistics released by the Fed indicated that consumer credit increased by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter and 5 percent in December.

Some financial analysts have predicted that consumer credit growth with continue throughout much of 2019.

Read on to learn more details about what factors contributed to the increase. 

A report released by the Bloomberg Government and the non-profit group Women in Government Relations (WGR) highlights findings of the entities’ second study of the salary gap between men and women working in government.

It also indicates differences in pay among public and private sector employees and pertaining to political party affiliation.

Read on to learn more about the report’s findings.

New home purchase applications were down 6.1 percent year-over-year in December 2018, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data. Applications dropped 13 percent compared with November 2018, applications decreased by 13 percent.

The decreases reported in the survey do not account for typical seasonal pattern adjustments.

Read on to learn more about the survey’s findings.

The economic outlook for 2019 and 2020 published by the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee is less optimistic than it has been in recent years but still projects growth – just not as much in light of expected shifts in the U.S. policy and the global economy. 

The committee anticipates higher mortgage interest rates, which will impact the demand for housing.

Find out more details about the group’s predictions.

Following a multi-week lull to end 2018, the mortgage market saw a dramatic uptick in applications, per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Jan. 4, 2019.

Seasonally-adjusted data revealed a 23.5 percent increase in total application volume compared with the previous week.

Read on to learn more performance details about specific mortgage types.