Organization Root Tag

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should consider allowing small depositories — those defined by regulators to be below $10 billion in total assets — to again make use of structured transactions for seasoned, performing loans, writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

In order to complete the monthly cycle of two-, five- and seven-year notes before Thursday’s holiday, the Treasury Department is cramming them into Monday and Tuesday, which hasn’t gone well in the past.

Two progressive Democratic senators said they oppose the renomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to a second term, joining Elizabeth Warren in urging President Biden to choose someone else.

Monday’s release of FHA’s annual financial report has renewed calls to end its Life of Loan policy and cut annual premiums back down to pre-crisis levels, the executive director of the Community Home Lenders Association writes.

In a letter to the agency’s new director, top Senate Democrats recommended policy steps intended to limit mistakes in consumers’ credit files that they said “can ruin lives.”

The decision raised major questions about what’s next for a company that was pushing deeper into the U.S. housing market as part of its bid to transform itself from an online listings giant into a buyer and seller of thousands of homes a month.

A report by the agency found that consumers in majority Black neighborhoods were more than twice as likely as those in white neighborhoods to lodge complaints with the credit bureaus over information in their files. Meanwhile, disputes were less common among older borrowers.

The business hit a major snag in recent months as the company’s algorithms caused it to overpay for houses just as the heated U.S. market began to cool slightly, forcing it to list properties at a loss.

A majority of the 49 economists in the survey predicted the U.S. central bank will begin the taper in November and wrap it up by mid-2022, curbing the current $120 billion monthly buying pace by reducing Treasuries by $10 billion a month and mortgage-backed securities by $5 billion.

The agency said the risk management program for Cenlar FSB, which performs servicing functions for financial institution clients, was inadequate for the bank's size.

As the expiration of a national eviction moratorium puts economic pressure on low-income households, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is said to be considering investigating credit bureaus, debt collectors and large landlords accused of harming renters. But some argue the agency would be overreaching.

Federal Reserve officials broadly agreed last month they should start reducing emergency pandemic support for the economy, minutes of the Sept. 21-22 Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday said.

“I myself believe that the ‘substantial further progress’ standard has more than been met with regard to our price-stability mandate and has all but been met with regard to our employment mandate,” Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Tuesday.

Acting Director Sandra Thompson said the Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering changes to the risk-based fees that critics say have disproportionately hurt minority borrowers of low down-payment loans.

Criticism from banking and other business groups of Saule Omarova’s candidacy could make it difficult for moderate Democrats to support President Biden's pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Federal Reserve officials reinforced the U.S. central bank’s message that it would probably begin winding down its bond-buying program soon, though the economic recovery still had a way to go before interest rate increases would be appropriate.

While the Biden Administration has issued a series of measures to encourage the production of more affordable housing, municipalities must changing their zoning or other restrictive laws to facilitate additional development, writes the Chairman and CEO of Walker & Dunlop

If progress toward the Fed’s employment and inflation goals “continues broadly as expected, the committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the U.S. central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday.

The targets set by the rule pitched last month would be reduced from recent performance levels for non-minority low-income census tracts, reducing the incentive for the GSEs to purchase mortgages for families in these areas, writes a former principal economist from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The builder was found guilty of stealing over $1 million from home buyers, lenders, businesses and a family member’s special needs trust between 2016 and 2020.