Top Story Lending Related

The Federal Reserve Board has released the statement issued by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) after its March 2016 meeting. The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published in today's Federal Register a final rule making final each of the following interim final rules it published in December 2011, subject to intervening amendments: 12 CFR Parts 1002 (Regulation B), 1003 (Regulation C), 1005 (Regulation E), 1006 (Regulation F), 1007 (Regulation G), 1008 (Regulation H), 1009 (Regulation I), 1010 (Regulation J), 1011 (Regulation K), 1012 (Regulation L), 1013 (Regulation M), 1014 (Regulation N), 1015 (Regulation O), 1016 (Regulation P), 1022 (Regulation V), 1024 (Regulation X), 1026 (Regulation Z), and 1030 (Regulation DD). The rule is effective today, with its publication.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has added two new resources to its Regulatory Implementation page:

• Fact sheet for small creditors operating in rural or underserved areas
• Chart on eligibility for making various types of qualified mortgages

The CFPB has released its latest monthly consumer complaint snapshot, this time highlighting consumer complaints related to mortgages. The report shows that consumers continue to encounter servicing problems when they are unable to make payments. This month’s snapshot also highlights trends seen in complaints coming from California.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced its approval of a proposed rule that would, if the proposal is also approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Association, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, revise the proposed rule the Agencies published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2011, to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 956 generally requires that the Agencies jointly issue regulations or guidelines: (1) prohibiting incentive-based payment arrangements that the Agencies determine encourage inappropriate risks by certain financial institutions by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to material financial loss; and (2) requiring those financial institutions to disclose information concerning incentive-based compensation arrangements to the appropriate Federal regulator. Comptroller Curry issued a statement on the proposal before the FDIC Board approved the proposal.

Update: Published at 81 FR 37669, on 6/10/16, in the Federal Register. Comments due by July 22, 2016.

HUD and the Census Bureau have released their March 2016 new residential sales report. Sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, 1.5 percent below the revised February rate of 519,000 and 5.4 percent above the March 2015 estimate of 485,000. The median sales price of new houses sold was $288,000 and the average sales price was $356,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 246,000, which represents a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate. An FAQs page on the report was also released.

The CFPB has announced the issuance of consent orders to the debt collection law firm Pressler & Pressler, LLP, two of its principal partners, and New Century Financial Services, Inc., a debt buyer, to stop churning out unfair and deceptive debt collection lawsuits based on flimsy or nonexistent evidence, and to pay a total of $2.5 million in civil money penalties. See "Lawsuit mill barred and pays $2.5M for churning," in our Penalties pages, for more information.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has publishing in this morning's Federal Register a notice that it is reopening the comment period for a specific aspect of the proposed rule published by the Bureau in the Federal Register on December 15, 2014 (79 FR 74176 -- see our December 16, 2014, Top Story). The 2014 proposal included amendments to certain mortgage servicing provisions in Regulation X and Regulation Z. Among other things, the proposed rule: addressed requiring servicers to provide modified periodic statements under Regulation Z to consumers who have filed for bankruptcy, subject to certain exceptions; included related proposed sample periodic statement forms; and indicated that the Bureau intended to conduct consumer testing of the proposed sample forms and would publish and seek comment on a report summarizing the methods and results of such testing prior to finalizing any sample forms. The original comment period to the proposed rule closed on March 16, 2015. The Bureau now reopens the comment period until May 26, 2016, to seek comment specifically on the report summarizing consumer testing of sample periodic statement forms for consumers in bankruptcy.

Updated 4/27/2016 to provide link to report.

HUD has announced a $1 million agreement between the Fair Housing Project of North Carolina Legal Aid and North Carolina-based The Fidelity Bank to resolve allegations the mortgage lender engaged in unfair lending practices against minority applicants. Under the agreement, Fidelity will make investments and community development loans in predominantly minority census tracts where at least 40 percent of these loans will specifically promote affordable housing. Fidelity also committed to earmarking at least $500,000 each year for two years, for a total of $1 million and prominently display its non-discrimination policies at that branch in English and Spanish, and provide fair lending training to staff, including loan originators and employees engaged in loan processing and underwriting.

The Federal Reserve Board has issued SR 16-9 announcing the release of a list of inactive Supervision and Regulation (SR) letters. Most SR letters identified have been determined to be inactive and no longer applicable to the Federal Reserve's supervision program. A brief explanation indicating why each letter has been made inactive is included. In many cases, the information transmitted in these issuances was a point-in-time announcement, or has become outdated, or has been superseded by subsequent regulations, policies, and guidance. In some instances, letters were made inactive because more comprehensive guidance on the topic can be located in the Commercial Bank Examination Manual or the Bank Holding Company Supervision Manual.