Politics

The actions involved are based on findings by an interagency task force first convened last year by Marcia Fudge, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Banking executives and analysts worry that the Federal Reserve's aggressive plan to raise interest rates will be insufficient to tame inflation and overcome economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will take the “necessary steps” to get inflation down even if that means increasing interest rates more rapidly than currently anticipated and eventually to levels that slow the broader economy.

An audit found that mostly wealthy, white homeowners in urban counties were benefiting from the century-old policy.

In an update to an exam manual, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says racial or other bias associated with a wide range of financial products — not just credit — is illegal and subject to CFPB enforcement actions.

All five of the Biden administration's nominees received enough votes to secure passage to the Senate floor. Chair Sherrod Brown of Ohio called the moment "historic."

The increase is the first since 2018 and, combined with reductions in the mortgage and Treasury bond portfolio, it could drive 30-year home loan rates to 4.5% by year-end.

An oversight official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has laid out some specific responsibilities mortgage companies have when they work with borrowers receiving this type of housing relief.

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.

The West Virginia Democrat released a statement Monday saying that Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden's nominee to serve as the Federal Reserve's top regulator, "failed to satisfactorily address my concerns" and that he would not support her. Manchin's "no" vote puts her confirmation very much in doubt.

A vocal section of the market prefers the Fed chair to focus more on reducing bond holdings than quantitative tightening, allowing policy makers to hike interest rates less aggressively as it battles to bring down 40-year high inflation.

The legislation President Biden was expected to sign on Friday heads off an array of potential disruptions for the industry.

The bill, part of the omnibus spending package, would force banks and other critical infrastructure providers to tell the government right away when they’ve been breached.

The legislation by Sens. Rob Portman and Gary Peters has bankers worried about burdensome reporting requirements.

Lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee clashed over the stalled nominations of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and four others Wednesday. It was a prelude to the fireworks that could occur Thursday when Powell is scheduled to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have used the classic FICO score since 2003.

The record amount is largely a reflection of the two banner years the mortgage market recently enjoyed, but it’s also one of the smallest gains seen in recent years.

Although forbearance exits are not yet complete, two arms of the Department of Housing and Urban Development have decided to make some temporary pandemic relief programs permanent.

Its modifications aim to help two government-sponsored mortgage investors manage risk and rebuild capital while retaining enough flexibility to fulfill their affordable housing missions, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director, Sandra Thompson.

The move confirms speculation that the Federal Housing Finance Agency would return to a pre-pandemic plan to tighten requirements for mortgage lenders and servicers that work with two government-sponsored enterprises.