Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.
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The bureau issued three policies removing the threat of legal liability for approved companies that test new products.
September 10 -
Though advocates and industry are rarely aligned, they are starting to coalesce around a plan that would call for the elimination of the CFPB’s 43% debt-to-income limit as part of its qualified mortgage rule.
August 27 -
The agency says the "disparate impact" standard needs to be amended to align with a recent Supreme Court ruling. But consumer advocates say the change would make it more difficult for borrowers to allege discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.
August 16 -
The industry has long worried that the ability-to-repay rule gives borrowers an avenue to fight foreclosure, but one plaintiff’s experience may discourage others from trying.
August 15 -
The regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises retreated from an earlier proposal that had barred VantageScore because of its ties to the credit bureaus.
August 13 -
With the agency mulling changes to the “Qualified Mortgage” regulation, mortgage lenders say little-known standards for how they document a borrower’s income would be a good place to start.
August 12 -
Many in the industry say releasing GSE-backed loans from stringent underwriting rules has helped the housing market recover, but a new level of regulatory burden could reverse those gains.
August 2 -
Eric Blankenstein, now at HUD, is under fire for asking a subordinate to defend him after it was revealed he wrote racially charged blogs 14 years earlier.
July 29 -
The mortgage industry was caught off guard by regulators’ decision to cease special treatment for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in complying with underwriting rules. But how big of an impact will the new policy have?
July 28 -
Will the new commitment, which is 5% over what the banks have reinvested recently on their own, assuage advocacy groups' concerns about the merger?
July 22
