Credit

The agency issued an advisory opinion warning that credit reporting bureaus and other entities using credit checks can no longer use disclaimers to bypass privacy protections.

The use of rent data in credit models is allowing people with low credit scores or thin credit files to get loans. But consumer advocates warn the use of that data could harm the very people it’s supposed to help. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac asked originators to resubmit applications that contained errors and adjust sold mortgage information due to incorrect life-of-loan representations and warranties.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, home equity line of credit volume was up 31% from the same period the year before.

Borrowers must be protected against discrimination at all steps of the credit process — including after they’ve already been granted credit, the regulator affirmed.

During the pandemic, consumer lenders have found it easier to collect payments because the federal student loan moratorium has made many borrowers more liquid. A plan for blanket forgiveness reportedly under consideration by President Biden could sustain that trend.

Mortgage finance stakeholders must pay careful attention to “nuts-and-bolts” which, if ignored or misunderstood, can become landmines when implementing even the most well-intended new policies or practices writes a senior advisor at the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets

While relatively few of these consumers have applied for mortgages recently, the findings point to an untapped market that lenders might be able to reach out to as refinancing dries up.

If lenders get to choose the credit-scoring model, the Big Three credit bureaus will likely set a price for VantageScore that is super low, so low that FICO cannot compete, just as Uber decimated the taxicab industry by setting prices artificially low until the taxicabs were gone, writes an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

Esusu, a financial technology company that aims to help bridge the racial wealth gap by reporting rent payments to credit agencies, has become one of only a few Black-owned startups to reach a valuation of $1 billion after closing a Series B round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

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.”

Companies using only a person’s name and not other identifiers to screen job and tenant applications can produce inaccurate information, according to the bureau. The agency's advisory opinion said such practices violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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.

Those leaving forbearance or other relief plans generally had higher credit utilization rates, were more likely to have mortgages, and experienced lower levels of bank card delinquencies, according to TransUnion.

Ratings jumped largely because white-collar workers have raced to take advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in history.

Despite “color blind” underwriting algorithms, loan denial rates on mortgages that were not backed by the Federal Housing Administration and the VA skewed heavily toward minority groups, according to a study by The Markup.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated income inequality in America, and that has implications for banks and other lenders. Among those suffering most: renters, front-line workers and minority small-business owners.

The expanded credit access in its automated mortgage decisioning goes into effect in mid September.

Democrats are pushing for a public-sector alternative to the three main credit bureaus, but Republicans argue that the government is ill-equipped to safely handle consumer data and produce accurate reports.

Only 0.9% of mortgage borrowers are currently at least 90 days delinquent. That figure could rise as high as 3.8% once pandemic-related deferrals lapse — still well below the 6% mark reached after the Great Recession, according to research by the New York Fed.