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The Federal Reserve System has updated its FRB/US model package as of December 30, 2015. The main FRB/US model package is a self-contained set of equations, data, programs and documentation that enables various types of simulations and provides information about the model's structure.

The FHFA has released its mortgage index for November 2015. Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased from October to November, 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 3.85 percent for loans closed in late November, down 4 basis points from 3.89 percent in October. The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.86 percent, down 4 basis points from 3.90 in October. The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $417,000 or less was 4.08 percent, down 4 basis points from 4.12 in October. The effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.01 percent in November, down 3 basis points from 4.04 percent in October. 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 $319,800 in November, up $11,200 from $308,600 in October.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) moved its headquarters in January 2012, and the Postal Service changed the FHFA's ZIP Code in November 2015. The FHFA has published a formal notice in the Federal Register amending mentions of its address in several FHFA regulations to:

400 7th Street SW
Washington, DC 20219

The Federal Reserve System has released the October 2015 G.20 Finance Companies report of owned and managed receivables outstanding and auto loans: terms of credit.

A proposed consent order has been filed by the Bureau in federal court that would resolve a lawsuit against Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, a Georgia-based law firm, and its three principal partners, for operating an illegal debt collection lawsuit mill. The CFPB complaint alleged that the defendants with violating the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on deceptive practices as well as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The order, if approved by the court, would bar the firm and its principal partners from illegal debt-collection practices, including filing lawsuits without being able to verify the consumers’ debt is owed, and intimidating consumers with deceptive court filings. The order would also require the firm and its principals to pay $3.1 million to the Bureau’s Civil Penalty Fund. See our Penalty Page entry for further information.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued its two annual staff reports on credit rating agencies registered as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs). The reports show that NRSROs have made operational improvements and have enhanced process accountability, controls and governance, and that smaller NRSROs have made competitive inroads in certain rating categories. The annual examination report summarizes the staff’s findings from the examinations of each NRSRO as required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The annual report to Congress mandated by the 2006 Credit Rating Agency Reform Act discusses the state of competition, transparency, and conflicts of interest at NRSROs.

The Federal Reserve Board has released the third quarter 2015 household debt service (DSR) and financial obligations ratios (FOR) listed as a percentage of disposable personal income, seasonally adjusted. The FOR was down, the mortgage DSR down, the consumer DSR up, and the combined total unchanged from the second quarter of 2015.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has released a list of 23 administrative enforcement actions taken during November. The list included four consent orders, nine removal and prohibition orders, three Section 19 orders, one $35,000 civil money penalty (CMP) order against an individual, and six terminations of prior orders. In the CMP order, the FDIC said it had determined it had reason to believe that the individual had engaged in "violations of law or regulations, recklessly engaged in unsafe or unsound practices, or committed breaches of her fiduciary duty to" her bank and that her actions "constituted a pattern of misconduct or caused more than a minimal loss" to the bank.

HUD and the Census Bureau have reported that the sales of new single-family houses in November 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000. This is 4.3 percent above the revised October rate of 470,000 and is 9.1 percent above the November 2014 estimate of 449,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2015 was $305,000; the average sales price was $374,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 232,000. This represents a supply of 5.7 months at the current sales rate.

A Federal Trade Commission press release has announced that the Commission issued a policy statement yesterday explaining how established consumer protection principles apply to different advertising formats, including “native” ads that look like surrounding non-advertising content. In the "Enforcement Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted Advertisements," the Commission lays out the general principles the Commission considers in determining whether any particular ad format is deceptive and violates the FTC Act. The policy statement affirms the long-standing consumer protection principle that advertisements and promotional messages that promote the benefits and attributes of goods and services should be identifiable as advertising to consumers. The policy statement explains that an ad’s format is deceptive if it materially misleads consumers about the ad’s commercial nature, including through any implied or express representation that it comes from a party other than the sponsoring advertiser.

The FTC also issued "Native Advertising: A Guide for Business," to help companies understand, and comply with, the policy statement in the context of native advertising. The business guidance gives examples of when disclosures are necessary to prevent deception and FTC staff guidance on how to make clear and prominent disclosures within the format of native ads.