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A CFPB Blog article provides information for consumers on how mortgage interest rates are determined and how to better prepare for the home buying process and negotiating their mortgage loan. Seven key factors which affect an interest rate are discussed.

The OCC has released its Second Quarter 2017 Mortgage Metrics Report, which showed 95.4 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, compared with 94.7 percent a year earlier. The report also showed that foreclosure activity has decreased from the previous quarter. Reporting servicers initiated 35,974 new foreclosures during the second quarter of 2017, a 24.3 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a decrease of 26.2 percent from a year earlier. Servicers implemented 30,523 mortgage modifications in the second quarter of 2017. Eighty-three percent of the modifications reduced borrowers’ monthly payments.

The September 2017 Report to the Congress on the Availability of Credit to Small Businesses report has been submitted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The report is prepared in accordance with provisions of the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996, which requires that, every five years, the Board submit a report to the Congress detailing the extent of small business lending by all creditors. The report discusses recent patterns in the flows and terms of business credit, credit use by small firms, and the sources of credit provided to small businesses, with an emphasis on the lending activities of commercial banks. The securitization of small business loans and community reinvestment activities are also discussed.

The FDIC has released a list of orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals in August 2017. There were a total of 22 orders, four notices, including one notice issued in May, and one adjudicated decision. The administrative enforcement actions in those orders consisted of two consent orders; three removal and prohibition orders; seven Section 19 orders; one civil money penalty; one termination of insurance; eight terminations of consent orders; four notices; and one adjudicated decision.

Under the adjudicated decision, the FDIC Board issued an order removing a board member and former president of an Amarillo, Texas, bank, prohibiting him from participation in the banking industry, and assessing a $200,000 civil money penalty for violations of Regulation O, engaging in unsafe and unsound banking practices, and breaching his fiduciary duties. See our Penalty page for details. There was also an order assessing a $21,000 penalty against a California bank for engaging in a pattern or practice of violations of flood insurance requirements. The three removal/prohibition orders were issued against individuals formerly affiliated with banks in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Medota, Illinois, and Fort Pierce, Florida.

Notices of charges and hearing are preliminary notices of penalties for which the respondent individual or bank has a right to request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. The May 2017 notice was issued to a Louisiana bank alleged to have engaged in an extensive pattern or practice of flood insurance-related violations. The three notices issued in August involve pending removal/prohibition orders issued against two individuals affiliated with a Laredo, Texas, bank, and one individual affiliated with a bank in Everett, Massachusetts.

The FFIEC has announced the availability of data on mortgage lending transactions in 2016 at 6,762 U.S. financial institutions covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

The September 2017 Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey (SCOOS) on Dealer Financing has been released by the Federal Reserve Board.

The FHFA Index for August 2017 has been released. Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages increased from July to August, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts.

• The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 4.05 percent for loans closed in late August, up 6 basis points from 3.99 percent in July.
• The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.04 percent, up 6 basis points from 3.98 in July.
• The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $424,100 or less was 4.19 percent, up 5 basis points from 4.14 in July.
• The effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.14 percent in August, up 6 basis points from 4.08 in July. The effective interest rate accounts for the addition of initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage.

The average loan amount for all loans was $309,600 in August, down $7,400 from $317,000 in July. FHFA will release September index values Thursday, October 26, 2017.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released its bank supervision operating plan for fiscal year 2018. Strategies for the year will focus on:

• Cybersecurity and operational resiliency
• Commercial and retail credit loan underwriting, concentration risk management, and the allowance for loan and lease losses
• Business model sustainability and viability and strategy changes
• Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance management
• Change management to address new regulatory requirements

The CFPB has updated the 2018 Institutional Coverage Chart, 2018 Transactional Coverage Chart, and Key Dates Timeline on its HMDA Implementation webpage to reflect the changes made in the Bureau's 2017 HMDA Final Rule amending Regulation C.

FDIC FIL-46-2017, issued yesterday, announces steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Puerto Rico and St. Croix affected by Hurricane Maria.