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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CFPB Should Update Mortgage Regulations to Reduce Unnecessary Foreclosures and Reduce the Racial Wealth Gap

The National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), the Center for Responsible Lending, and the National Housing Law Project submitted this comment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to a request for information regarding mortgage refinances and forbearances.

Comment on the Community Reinvestment Act, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

The Center for Responsible Lending and Center for Community Self-Help applaud the effort of the Agencies to update and modernize the CRA regulations given the massive changes that have taken place in the financial services industry in the more than 25 years since the regulations were last amended. Likewise, we support the overall thrust of the Agencies’ proposal, which provides...

Adjusting the COVID-19 Flex Mod to Deliver Payment Reduction to More Borrowers in Need

While most homeowners with GSE-backed mortgages have recovered from pandemic-related hardships and reinstated their mortgage, as of June 7, about 1.6% of outstanding GSE borrowers were in a state of nonpayment: about 140,000 GSE-backed loans were in COVID-19 Forbearance, and another roughly 300,000 loans were delinquent outside of forbearance. For those GSE borrowers who were less than 2 months delinquent...

Testimony: Mike Calhoun on Boom and Bust: Inequality, Homeownership, and the Long-Term Impacts of the Hot Housing Market

On June 29, 2022, Mike Calhoun, CRL's president, testified before the House Committee on Financial Services for a hearing entitle, “Boom and Bust: Inequality, Homeownership, and the Long-Term Impacts of the Hot Housing Market.” His written testimony is available for download. Watch a recording of the hearing:

Adjustments to Help the FHA Streamline Refinance Program Reach More Low-Wealth Families

Many FHA borrowers took advantage of record-low interest rates during the COVI9-19 pandemic and refinanced their mortgage. However, as of November 2021, there were over 4 million FHA borrowers who could realize a substantial reduction in their monthly payments by refinancing but had not done so. The average borrower in this cohort would save $229 per month ($2,750 per year)...

Adding Eligibility for First-Generation Homebuyers to the GSE Affordable Housing Programs

Two vital elements of social and economic mobility are to increase the homeownership rate by enabling more non-homeowners to become first-time homebuyers and reduce the racial disparities in homeownership rates caused in large part by deliberate discriminatory policies and practices. The Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) have the ability to improve both through their affordable housing goals and lending programs. The...

Comment on the Proposed Rule to Amend the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework (ERCF)

The Center for Responsible Lending, the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST), the Consumer Federation of America, the National Housing Conference, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, appreciate the opportunity to comment on the proposed rule to amend the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework (ERCF) by refining the prescribed leverage buffer amount (PLBA) and the credit risk transfer (CRT)...

A Broad Coalition Write to Highlight the Urgent Need to Include Targeted First Generation Down Payment Assistance (DPA) in the Build Back Better Act

Congress cannot miss this once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand homeownership and create racial justice and equity. Targeted DPA is one of the most cost-effective strategies to shrink disparities in wealth and narrow the homeownership gap.1 More than half a million Black and Latino families could become first-generation homeowners thanks to this program even if funded at $30 billion over ten years...

Comment on The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Enterprise Equitable Housing Finance Plans

Read the full comment for a: Summary of the current racial disparity in homeownership caused by longstanding and continuing discrimination; Discuss of the challenges and opportunities in redressing these disparities; Suggested steps to maximize the role of the GSEs in this endeavor.
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