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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has published a final rule at 81 FR 52353 in today's Federal Register identifying communities where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that are scheduled for suspension on September 16, 2016, for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. Affected communities are portions of Prince George's County, Maryland, and portions of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

The FFIEC has posted information on a revision of the methodology for determining average offer rates to reflect that a different source of survey data for the one-year variable rate mortgage product is being used to calculate the average prime offer rates for certain mortgage products.

June 2016 G.19 consumer credit data have been posted by the Federal Reserve. Consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5-1/4 percent during the second quarter. Revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 4-1/2 percent, while nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 5-1/2 percent. In June, consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 4 percent.

The FDIC has announced it has extended the comment period for proposed guidance on third-party lending. Comments on the proposed guidance, which was published on July 29, now must be received on or before October 27. The 45-day extension was made in response to requests from interested parties who asked for additional time to consider the proposal.

The FDIC has released a list of 38 state nonmember banks recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The list covers evaluation ratings that the FDIC assigned to institutions in May 2016. One bank received an outstanding rating, 35 were rated satisfactory, and two were rated "needs to improve."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has published in this morning's Federal Register [at 81 FR 51808] a final rule that identifies communities where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that are scheduled for suspension on September 2, 2016, for noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. The affected communities are in the states of California, Washington and West Virginia.

The CFPB has issued a final rule to require residential mortgage loan servicers to provide certain borrowers with foreclosure protections more than once over the life of the loan, clarify borrower protections when the servicing of a loan is transferred, and provide important loan information to borrowers in bankruptcy. The changes also help ensure that surviving family members and others who inherit or receive property generally have the same protections under the CFPB’s mortgage servicing rules as the original borrower. The Bureau issued a proposed rule in November 2014, but has made several changes in the final rule based on comments received from the public. The rule will—

• require servicers to provide certain borrowers with foreclosure protections more than once of the life of their loan;
• expand consumer protections to surviving family members and other homeowners (successors in interest) when a borrower dies;
• reqire servicers to notify borrowers when loss mitigation applications are complete;
• protect struggling borrowers during servicing transfers;
• Clarify servicers’ obligations to avoid dual-tracking and prevent wrongful foreclosures; and
• Clarify when a borrower becomes delinquent.

The rule also provides servicers some flexibility to comply with certain force-placed insurance and periodic statement disclosure requirements, and clarify several requirements regarding early intervention, loss mitigation, information requests, and prompt crediting of payments, as well as the small servicer exemption.

Additionally, the Bureau issued an interpretive rule under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act relating to servicers' compliance with certain mortgage servicing provisions as amended by the final rule.

Most of the provisions of the final rule will take effect 12 months after publication in the Federal Register. The provisions relating to successors in interest and the provisions relating to periodic statements for borrowers in bankruptcy will take effect 18 months after publication.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has outlined consumer protection principles to guide mortgage servicers, investors, government housing agencies, and policymakers as they develop new foreclosure relief solutions. The Bureau’s action comes as the Department of Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program, a foreclosure relief program put in place in response to the financial crisis, is nearing its expiration date. The CFPB’s proposed principles are meant to inform the discussion of potential options to help prevent avoidable foreclosures. The principles promote:

• Accessibility: Consumers should easily be able to obtain and use information about loss mitigation options, and how to apply for those options.
• Affordability: Repayment plans and mortgage loan modifications should generally be designed to produce a payment and loan structure that is affordable for consumers.
• Sustainability: Loss mitigation options used for home retention should be designed to provide affordability throughout the remaining or extended loan term.
• Transparency: Consumers should get clear, concise information about the decisions servicers make.

The Bureau's principles don't establish legal requirements, but are instead intended to complement ongoing discussions amount industry, consumer groups and policymakers.

The OCC has released the ratings received by 25 national banks and federal savings associations recently evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Five institutions received a rating of outstanding, 19 were rated satisfactory, and one was given a "substantial noncompliance" rating.

The OCC will host two workshops in Duluth, Minnesota, at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, September 13–14, for directors of national community banks and federal savings associations supervised by the OCC. The Credit Risk workshop on September 13 focuses on credit risk within the loan portfolio, such as identifying trends and recognizing problems. The workshop also covers the roles of the board and management, how to stay informed of changes in credit risk, and how to effect change. The Compliance Risk workshop on September 14 combines lectures, discussion, and exercises on the critical elements of an effective compliance risk management program. The workshop also focuses on major compliance risks and critical regulations. Topics of discussion include the Bank Secrecy Act, Community Reinvestment Act, and the Truth-in-Lending (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA) Integrated Disclosures Rule, also known as TRID.