Mortgage Lending

Home ownership has been the primary means for most American families to build and pass on inter-generational wealth. However, government-sanctioned racial discrimination in housing and mortgage finance markets robbed many families of this opportunity, and today’s racial homeownership gap is barely changed from the levels of more than 50 years ago. Closing the homeownership gap is essential to closing the racial wealth gap.  Additionally, predatory mortgage lending practices drained trillions in wealth from families, especially Black, Latino, low wealth and low-income Americans. CRL successfully advocated for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which has made the mortgage market far safer for consumers. CRL is building on this progress by working to ensure that all credit-worthy borrowers have access to fair, affordable, and sustainable mortgages. And that policy makers and market participants develop solutions that are appropriate to respond to the scale of this housing crisis. 

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Poll: Strong Support for New Mortgage Lending Rules that Require Verification of Ability to Repay

A recent Lake Research poll finds strong enthusiasm for new mortgage lending rules that require verification of ability to repay. Voters of all political parties express a strong desire to keep these rules in place. More than nine in ten voters (91%) support requiring mortgage lenders to verify a borrower’s ability to repay before making a loan. Nearly three quarters...

FHA Lender Approval, Annual Renewal, Periodic Updates and Required Reports by FHA-Approved Lenders

FHA has proposed to shift the obligations for mortgagees to certify that they have upheld all legal requirements from the loan-level certification to the initial and annual lender level certification requirement. In principle, we are not opposed to shifting the placement of these requirements, so long as FHA vigorously enforces these requirements and upholds the need to provide timely annual...

Loan-level Certification Requirements for FHA Insured Mortgages Comment

The right loan-level certification requirements will make it possible for consumers to be protected from risky mortgage products, for FHA to operate a safe and sustainable mortgage insurance program, and for lenders to have the clarity and certainty they need about enforcement standards to expand access to FHA-insured mortgage credit.

North Carolina Legislative Update October 1, 2015

The 2015 NC General Assembly adjourned yesterday, months after we first expected them to wrap-up their session. They will reconvene for the short session on April 25, 2016. Because of your calls and letters, three very dangerous bills did not pass: Senate Bill 681, which would have legalized 80 to 125% loans, never even got a committee hearing, House Bill...

2014 HMDA Data Show That Federal Rules Did Not Have A Chilling Effect On Lending, Despite Lender Predictions

The 2014 mortgage data submitted by lenders under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reflects a slowly recovering mortgage market, but one that troublingly continues to under-serve important market segments. The implementation of federal mortgage underwriting standards (known as Ability-to-Repay or "ATR" and the Qualified Mortgage rule or "QM") in early 2014 did not cause a departure from mortgage lending...

Oppose HR 1210 Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act

H.R. 1210 would weaken the CFPB's Ability-to-Repay standards for mortgage loans. These standards are designed to protect consumers against the kind of toxic and exploitative mortgage loans which helped cause the financial crisis and led to massive consumer losses, and should not be weakened. The bill would allow depository institutions that hold a loan in portfolio to receive a legal...

Comments on Proposed Changes to Federal Housing Administration Loan Certifications

HUD/FHA is proposing to amend language on their certification forms where lenders certify that a loan is eligible for FHA financing (insurance). We believe the proposed language is a step in the right direction, but we offer additional suggestions. The components of our recommended framework to FHA include providing a certification that includes provisions for all of the following: The...

Proposed Changes to Federal Housing Administration Loan Certifications

Certification plays an important role in protecting the health of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) mutual mortgage insurance fund so that millions of Americans—many of whom are first-time buyers, come from low and moderate-income backgrounds, or purchase homes in communities of color—can continue to become successful homeowners. Certification also serves another equally important purpose by requiring lenders to certify that...

An Analysis of the Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015

On May 12, 2015, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs' Chairman, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), introduced a discussion draft of "The Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015" ("Chairman's Draft"). The proposal comes at a time when offering community banks relief from recently created laws and regulations for the mortgage market is dominating some discussions about Congressional efforts...

Mitria Wilson Testimony on Examining Regulatory Burdens on Non-Depository Financial Institutions

On April 15, 2015, Mitria Wilson testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services: Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. The hearing at which Mitria testified was called "Examining Regulatory Burdens on Non-Depository Financial Institutions." In her testimony (19 pages), Mitria offered: An overview of the importance of financial regulations - and the role such regulations currently play...
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