Fair Lending Shake-Ups: CFPB Vacates Townstone Settlement, FHFA Ends GSEs' Special Purpose Credit Programs — The Consumer Finance Podcast
The FHFA has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare proposals for consideration of cryptocurrency as an asset for reserves in their single-family risk assessments, without a conversion to dollars....more
In a significant policy shift under the Trump administration, the new Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte issued an order on March 25, 2025 terminating special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) supported...more
December 30, 2024- U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) released his 2024 Year-in-Review and Oversight Report for the 118th Congress, highlighting Banking Committee...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced the conforming loan limits for residential mortgage loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2025. Fannie Mae addresses the limits in Lender Letter...more
On November 18, the FHFA set the 2025 multifamily loan purchase caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at $73 billion each, totaling $146 billion for the year in multifamily market support. According to the FHFA Director, the...more
November 7, 2024 - The Federal Open Markets Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 4-1/2 to 4-3/4 percent. November 7, 2024- Securities and Exchange...more
On October 9, FHFA introduced a new Manufactured House Price Index to provide quarterly data on price trends for manufactured homes, a market segment which it noted is an affordable option for homebuyers. The new data series...more
On September 18, the FHFA issued a second proposed rule to amend its Suspended Counterparty Program (SCP) regulation, following a review of comments on the initial proposal (covered by InfoBytes here). The SCP requires...more
On June 20, FHFA conditionally approved a limited pilot program for Freddie Mac to begin purchasing certain single-family closed-end second mortgages. This decision came after implementing a new approval process for products...more
On March 12, the FHFA published a final rule in the Federal Register titled “Exception to Restrictions on Private Transfer Fee Covenants (PFTCs) for Loans Meeting Certain Duty to Serve Shared Equity Loan Program...more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a press release announcing a 2023 update to its Equity Action Plan. The Equity Action Plan is part of HUD’s efforts to implement President Biden’s...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently published another FHFA Insights blog post addressing the underutilization of appraisal time adjustments by appraisers that is a companion to an FHFA Insights blog post that...more
January 16, 2024- The Federal Reserve Board published a working paper entitled, "A Field Guide to Monetary Policy Implementation Issues in a New World with CBDC, Stablecoin, and Narrow Banks."...more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently published a FHFA Insights blog post that cites the underutilization of appraisal time adjustments by appraisers....more
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced the conforming loan limits for residential mortgage loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2024. Fannie Mae addresses the limits in Lender Letter 2023-09....more
On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued a wide-ranging Executive Order designed to protect Americans from potential risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and...more
Stemming from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) 2019 validation and approval of credit score models final rule, the FHFA announced in October 2022 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored...more
Recently, the FHFA issued a request for input (RFI) on a single-family pricing framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs), including feedback on policy priorities and goals that FHFA should pursue in its oversight of the...more
On May 10, FHFA announced it is rescinding a debt-to-income-based loan-level pricing adjustment announced in January. As previously covered by InfoBytes, FHFA made several changes relating to upfront fees for certain...more
April 7, 2023- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a Liberty Street Economics blog post entitled, "How Do Interest Rates (and Depositors) Impact Measures of Bank Value?"...more
On April 5, FHFA announced updates to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s (GSEs) equitable housing finance plans for 2023. The updates include adjustments to plans first announced last year, which faced pushback from several...more
On March 29, FHFA announced enhanced payment deferral policies for borrowers facing financial hardships. Under the newly enhanced policies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow borrowers to defer up to six months of mortgage...more
On March 15, FHFA delayed the implementation of a new debt-to-income ratio-based fee to August 1, in order to ensure lenders have sufficient time to prepare. In January, FHFA made several changes relating to upfront fees for...more
On February 23, FHFA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework (ERCF) that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ...more
On January 25, the Biden administration announced new actions for enhancing tenant protections and furthering fair housing principles, which align with the administration’s Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights that was...more