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A consumer advisory on the CFPB Blog explains how an error in enrollment status can affect a student's finances. Tips are listed on ways to catch errors that can cost hundreds in additional student loan debt.

The Federal Reserve System has released December 2016 G.20 finance companies data.

HUD and the Census Bureau jointly announced the new residential sales statistics for January 2017. Sales of new single-family houses in January 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 555,000, 3.7 percent above the revised December rate of 535,000 and 5.5 percent above the January 2016 estimate of 526,000.The median sales price of new houses sold in January 2017 was $312,900. The average sales price was $360,900. The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 265,000. This represents a supply of 5.7 months at the current sales rate.

The White House has announced that President Trump has signed an Executive Order requiring every Executive Branch agency to establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to eliminate red tape. The task forces are to be charged with making recommendations to the agency head regarding the repeal, replacement, or modification, consistent with applicable law, of regulations that:

• eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation
• are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective
• impose costs that exceed benefits
• create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies
• that rely in whole or in part on data, information, or methods that are not publicly available or that are insufficiently transparent to meet the standard for reproducibility
• derive from or implement Executive Orders or other Presidential directives that have been subsequently rescinded or substantially modified

The FDIC made public its administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and individuals during the month of January 2017. Included were one consent order, six removal and prohibition orders, three Section 19 orders, and four civil money penalties. The larger CMPs included the previously announced $65 million CMP imposed by the FDIC, OCC and Federal Reserve on ServiceLink Holding LLC, and CMPs for Flood Act violations imposed on banks in Albany, Illinois ($58,232) and Lake Mills, Wisconsin ($16,802).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported yesterday that U.S. house prices rose 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 according to the agency's House Price Index (HPI). House prices rose 6.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for December was up 0.4 percent from November. The top five states in annual cost increases were Oregon (11.0 percent), Colorado (10.6 percent), Florida (10.4 percent), Washington (10.2 percent) and Nevada (8.9 percent).

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Gabriel D. Stewart, the final defendant in an alleged mortgage relief scam that preyed upon distressed homeowners, will be banned from selling mortgage or debt relief services under the terms of a settlement. In addition to banning Stewart from those businesses, the stipulated order prohibits him from misrepresenting financial and other products and services. It imposes a judgment of more than $1.7 million that is partially suspended and requires Stewart to pay $105,487, representing the amount of money he received from the scam. The full judgment will become due immediately if Stewart is found to have misrepresented his financial condition.

The NCUA Board held an open meeting on February 23, 2017, and unanimously approved a staff recommendation to maintain until September 10, 2018, the current 18-percent maximum loan interest rate for most loans made by federal credit unions. The Federal Credit Union Act caps the interest rate on federal credit union loans at 15 percent; however, the law gives the NCUA Board discretion to raise that limit for 18-month periods if interest-rate levels could threaten the safety and soundness of credit unions. The current 18-percent ceiling has remained in place since May 1987.

OFAC has announced it has taken action against two al-Nusrah Front (ANF) leadership officials, Iyad Nazmi Salih Khalil (Khalil) and Bassam Ahmad al-Hasri (al-Hasri). Both individuals, based in Syria, are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. OFAC also designated Syrian-based Metallic Manufacturing Factory (MMF) for acting for or on behalf of a designated entity, Mechanical Construction Factory. Finally, OFAC announced the removal of several listings from the SDN List.

For further information, see our OFAC Update.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have released the minutes of the Committee meeting held on January 31–February 1, 2017.