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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.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released its second quarter Foreclosure Prevention Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 48,760 foreclosure prevention actions in the second quarter of 2017, bringing the total number of troubled homeowners helped to 3,931,224 since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has requested input on its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2018-2022. The FHFA's draft strategic plan reflects the agency's priorities as regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System and as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Comments will be accepted through October 27, 2017.

President Trump has declared that a major disaster exists for the Seminole Tribe of Florida and ordered federal aid to supplement the Tribe’s efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Irma beginning on September 4, 2017, and continuing. The action makes federal funding available to affected individuals of the Tribe and its associated lands. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

The CFPB has issued a consent order against Meridian Title Corporation, South Bend, Indiana, ordering the real estate settlement agent and title insurance agency to pay up to $1.25 million in redress to affected consumers and to stop steering consumers to Arsenal Insurance Corporation, a title insurer owned in part by several of Meridian's executives without disclosing its relationship to the title insurer, in exchange for referral payments from the title insurer. Meridian was also ordered to stop violating the law and to start providing the required disclosures. For additional information, see our Penalty page.

The NCUA has posted an article detailing the disaster-recovery assistance available to the eight federally chartered credit unions headquartered in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.