Compliance & Regulation

The financial industry has praised the measured approach taken in a pending regulation on permitted communications with consumers. But two recent complaints by the bureau against debt collectors reflect a potentially aggressive enforcement stance.

The GSEs began sharing their risk with the private market in new ways during conservatorship, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed capital framework currently discourages the use of those strategies. Industry leaders voiced concerns in a FHFA listening session this week.

The final version of the amended rule, like the original proposal, makes fair lending claims tougher to prove; but it does soften language that otherwise might have allowed mortgage companies to use algorithms to prove nondiscrimination.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's proposal could undermine the companies’ mission to support the housing market and penalize consumers in underserved communities, industry and consumer groups say.

The regulatory road ahead is as uncertain and risky to banks as the pandemic.

The agency’s plan to extend the "qualified mortgage" stamp of approval to more loans could help lenders that rely on alternative data and cushion the blow of other QM changes for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The pandemic drives home the point that without those funds being siphoned off, the recent fee hikes would not be necessary.

Gov. Gavin Newsom late Monday signed a stopgap measure to rein in evictions, offering limited protections for tenants and aid to landlords hit financially by the coronavirus pandemic.

Following its deadline for written comments on the topic last month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is scheduling events that will focus on two key themes emerging in responses.

The decision is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between the shuttered company and its regulator.