Michael Calhoun ‌

Mike Calhoun Dec2016

President

Mortgage Lending

Mike Calhoun is president of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), the policy affiliate of Self-Help, the nation's largest community development lender. He considers himself "fortunate to work with an extraordinarily talented staff and a dedicated coalition of organizations fighting to provide economic opportunity and advancement for low- and moderate-income families and families of color."

For more than 30 years, Mike has been on the front lines of working for economic justice. At CRL, he provides management and policy leadership. Based in DC, he often testifies in Congress and appears frequently in national media as an expert on financial issues. Prior to joining CRL in 2002, Mike led several lending divisions at Self-Help, providing responsible consumer loans, mortgages and small business loans, and heading an innovative program to provide national capital for affordable home loans. He has represented families to secure civil rights and consumer protections, including working for ten years as a legal aid attorney. He is a former member and chair of the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Advisory Council.

Mike received his BA degree in economics from Duke University, and his JD degree from the University of North Carolina. When he is not advocating on behalf of fair lending and civil rights, Mikes loves time with family, gardening, sailing and playing basketball.

Research & Policy

Civil Rights Groups Push for Housing Investment and Equity in Human Infrastructure, Reconciliation Bill

From the opening paragraph of the letter : On behalf of the undersigned civil rights, consumer protection, and housing policy organizations, we write to urge your continued prioritization of the housing-related provisions in the upcoming reconciliation package. These provisions are a down payment on this Administration's commitment to addressing long-standing inequities in our housing system and addressing the worsening racial wealth gap exacerbated by the nation's housing crisis.
Letters to Congress
Mortgage Lending

Comments to FDIC on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Industrial Loan Companies

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) joined with a coalition of civil rights, community, consumer, and faith organizations in two public comment letters warning the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that its proposed rule for chartering additional underregulated Industrial Loan Companies (ILCs) would expand predatory, high-interest lending. The plan would grant the predominantly online non-bank companies that are approved for an ILC with preemptory powers over state consumer protection laws, including interest rate caps. Download the long comment letter Download the short...
Comment Letter
Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans

A Smarter Qualified Mortgage Can Benefit Borrowers, Taxpayers, and the Economy

In the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress required lenders to make a reasonable and good faith determination that the borrower has the ability to repay a mortgage loan (ATR) before the loan is made. It also created a category of loans, called Qualified Mortgages, or QM, that are presumed to comply with the ATR requirement given product and borrower credit characteristics that make the loans lower risk. The product protections for a loan to be considered a QM are outlined in the Act, and the credit characteristics are left to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to determine. In setting the...
Research
Mortgage Lending

Testimony: Ensuring Access to Safe and Affordable Mortgage Loans for All Creditworthy Borrowers

Our Housing Finance System and the GSEs provide essential services to families and lenders across the country. Rural borrowers, small lenders and lower wealth borrowers particularly benefit from these services because the GSEs provide access to a national market, making home loans more affordable overall. The GSEs, though, had critical flaws leading up to the crisis. Since then, fundamental reforms have been made to them, and these changes have addressed systemic risks. Going forward that work needs to be continued and expanded through regulation like that of the utility industry, to ensure...
Testimony
Mortgage Lending

Lessons from the financial crisis: The central importance of a sustainable, affordable and inclusive housing market

On this tenth anniversary of the financial crisis, there have been many retrospectives on the US government’s response to that catastrophe, with more to come. The commentary to date has largely focused on the extraordinary measures taken to prevent a much deeper collapse of the American and global economies. Measures were implemented to address the immediate crisis and reduce the likelihood of a repeat event. Both had a significant impact. But in examining the crisis and its responses, it is critical to remember that it was triggered and substantially driven by a dysfunctional housing market...
Research
Mortgage Lending

Supporting mortgage lending in rural communities

Nearly 74 million people, about a quarter of the United States population, live in rural areas. That includes 15 million people of color. But according to the authors of a new paper published by the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings, these families are often overlooked in policy discussions on proposed changes to the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), which provide the largest share of mortgage financing in rural areas. GSE mortgage financing meets a critical rural housing need, and it also supports community banks, which are often the only full-service financial institution...
Research
Mortgage Lending

Mike Calhoun's Testimony "Principles of Housing Finance Reform"

On Thursday, June 28th, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for a hearing entitled "Principles of Housing Finance Reform." In his written testimony, he stated that the "goal must be to ensure that the full universe of credit worthy borrowers – regardless of where they live, including in rural areas, or who they are – have access to the credit they need to be able to secure a mortgage so that they can build their American dreams. The system must also continue to offer equal access for lenders of...
Testimony
Mortgage Lending

Mike Calhoun's Testimony "The State of Bank Lending in America"

On Tuesday, March 28, Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) President Mike Calhoun testified before the House Financial Services Committee's Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee for a hearing entitled "The State of Bank Lending in America." He discussed recent trends in lending and how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has made the financial industry more accountable to the public. Download the full testimony above and view a list of all four of the hearing witnesses .
Testimony
Consumer Finance

Who Will Receive Home Loans, and How Much Will They Pay?

The following blog post by Mike Calhoun and Sarah Wolff originally appeared on the Urban Institute’s Housing Policy Center: http://urbn.is/29rYamw Any housing finance system’s ability to provide broad access and affordability is predicated on two factors: how prices are set and, equally importantly, how costs are distributed. Price is important to focus on for many reasons; chief among them is because price is a barrier to accessing mortgage credit. One way to see this operating is to look at the difference between what kinds of loans the government-sponsored enterprises say they will purchase...
Research
Mortgage Lending

Support for Post-crisis Lending Rules and the Elimination of Abusive Financial Products

In a Statement for the Record to the Hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Assessing the Effects of Consumer Finance Regulations, CRL expresses its support for post-crisis lending rules that have made the financial system safer by eliminating abusive financial products, reining in reckless behavior, and encouraging more effective oversight.
Comment Letter
Mortgage Lending

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Field Hearing: Limit Payday Loan Debt Trap

On March 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offered a first look at proposals under consideration to curb the payday loan debt trap. The consumer agency released information outlining their deliberations at a field hearing in Richmond, VA – at which the agency also heard from a panel of consumer and civil rights advocates, as well as payday industry representatives. This is an important moment in the history of consumer protections and financial reforms. Payday lending has resulted in debt traps for consumers across the country. Marketed as quick and easy ways to ride borrowers until...
Policy & Legislation
Payday and Other Small Dollar Loans