Kathy Kraninger

An imminent high court ruling about the independence of the bureau's director, coupled with an election victory for Joe Biden, could doom a plan to extend GSEs' exemption from tough debt-to-income requirements on mortgages.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to change the definition of what constitutes a qualified mortgage from a 43% debt-to-income limit to a price-based threshold, and further extend a temporary exemption given to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the bureau's establishment of the panel looking into regulatory changes violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The agency has freed companies from reporting requirements and provided flexibility on exams to help them deal with COVID-19 fallout. It has also finished other regulatory relief efforts that were in the pipeline before the pandemic hit.

Complaints to the bureau hit an all-time high in April. More than one in five said servicers wouldn't grant deferrals, forced borrowers into forbearance or violated other requirements of the coronavirus relief law.

The move is part of an effort by CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger to help smaller lenders by significantly raising loan thresholds for collecting and reporting mortgage data.

The agency is still moving forward on key regulations dealing with payday lending and mortgage underwriting despite new demands posed by the crisis.

The Borrower Protection Program enables the two agencies to exchange information about loss mitigation efforts and consumer complaints regarding specific servicers.

The agency has relaxed some reporting requirements and joined other regulators in encouraging banks to help borrowers, but pressure is building on the bureau to do more to aid consumers suffering financial hardship.

Leonard Chanin, a senior official at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has been tapped to serve on a part-time basis as the No. 2 official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a news report.

The agency's director said both steps will come as part of an ongoing review of agency rules and show her "commitment under the law to be effective and evidence based” in providing clarity to stakeholders.

Members of the House Financial Services Committee chastised Kathy Kraninger for not supervising student loan servicers and failing to examine firms for compliance with the Military Lending Act.

Now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it will scrap an unpopular standard for so-called qualified mortgages, the big question is what will take its place.

The agency has named Thomas G. Ward as the bureau's assistant director for enforcement. House Democrats have questioned Ward's role as a political appointee in the Trump administration.

In the past, the agency cited the legal term in enforcement actions without stating what it meant, but Director Kathy Kraninger has sought to give the industry clearer guidance.

Democratic lawmakers, state attorneys general and others filed briefs with the Supreme Court rebutting claims that the agency’s leadership structure is unconstitutional.

Director Kathy Kraninger has told lawmakers that the agency will delay the expiration of the so-called QM patch, now set for January 2021.

The Supreme Court appointed Paul Clement to represent the agency after the bureau’s current director questioned its constitutionality.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

Todd Zywicki, a law professor who has sharply criticized the CFPB as an unaccountable bureaucracy, has been named chair of an agency task force identifying potential conflicts and inconsistencies in consumer finance law.