Top Story Lending Related

The FDIC has issued FIL- 64-2017 with ways insured depository institutions, including community banks, can partner with minority depository institutions (MDIs) to the benefit of all institutions involved, as well as the communities they serve. Highlights include:

• Collaboration among MDIs or between MDIs and non-MDIs can provide viable options for sound and profitable lending and investments that meet the needs of underserved communities.
• By collaborating with each other or with other community banks, MDIs may be able to enhance product and service offerings to unbanked and underbanked consumers located in low- to moderate-income geographies.
• In many cases, institutions engaging in collaborative activities and partnerships with MDIs may receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration for such activities.
• Institutions interested in pursuing collaborative relationships with MDIs may contact the appropriate Regional Director or Regional MDI Coordinator for insight on possible collaboration opportunities with specific MDIs. Institutions may also pursue such collaborative opportunities directly.

The OCC has released its OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Third Quarter 2017, which shows that 94.8 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, the same as a year earlier. The report also showed that foreclosure activity has decreased from the previous quarter. Reporting servicers initiated 34,266 new foreclosures during the third quarter of 2017, a 4.7 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a decrease of 28.5 percent from a year earlier. Servicers implemented 25,799 mortgage modifications in the third quarter of 2017. Seventy-eight percent of the modifications reduced borrowers’ monthly payments.

The final agenda for the 2018 NMLS Annual Conference and Training is available.

HUD has announced $37 million to assist more than 4,000 low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families annually over a three-year period. The funding announced today is offered through HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program, and will renew HUD's support of 32 local programs. These grants provide a combination of housing assistance and supportive services.

HUD and the Census Bureau have jointly announced statistics on new residential sales for November 2017:

• New Home Sales: Sales of new single-family houses in November 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 733,000. This is 17.5 percent above the revised October rate of 624,000 and 26.6 percent above the November 2016 estimate of 579,000.
• Sales Price: The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2017 was $318,700. The average sales price was $377,100.
• For Sale Inventory: The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 283,000. This represents a supply of 4.6 months at the current sales rate.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is issuing a final rule [to be published December  27, 2017] amending the Regulation C asset-size exemption threshold for banks, savings associations, and credit unions from $44 million to $45 million in assets as of December 31, 2017, regarding the collection of data in 2018.

The Bureau is publishing on December 27 a final rule making a change in the asset-size threshold for certain creditors to qualify for an exemption from the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan, from $2.069 billion to $2.112 billion, effective January 1, 2018. Creditors with assets of less than $2.112 billion (including assets of certain affiliates) as of December 31, 2017, will be exempt, if other requirements of Regulation Z also are met, from establishing escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans in 2018. This asset limit will also apply during a grace period, in certain circumstances, with respect to transactions with applications received before April 1 of 2019. The adjustment to the escrows asset-size exemption threshold will also increase a similar threshold for small-creditor portfolio and balloon-payment qualified mortgages.

The CFPB has issued a statement on its Prepaid Accounts Rule, indicating that it "expects to issue a final rule amending certain aspects of its 2016 rule governing prepaid accounts soon after the new year. As part of that process, the Bureau expects, based on its review of the comments received, to further extend the effective date of the 2016 rule to allow additional time for implementation of the final rule. The Bureau proposed making changes to the prepaid rule in June; the comment period on the proposal ended in August."

OCC Bulletin 2017-62, FDIC FIL-63-2017 and a public statement from the CFPB all state that the respective agencies do not intend to require data resubmission unless data errors are material or assess penalties with respect to errors for data collected in 2018 and reported in 2019 under HMDA and Regulation C.

The Bureau also announced it intends to open a rulemaking to reconsider various aspects of its 2015 HMDA rule, such as the institutional and transactional coverage tests and the rule’s discretionary data points.

The Fed, FDIC, and OCC have issued a joint press release announcing a Shared National Credit definition change; an aggregate loan commitment threshold increase to adjust for inflation, and changes in average loan size.