FHFA: Second Quarter 2017 Foreclosure Prevention Report Shows Foreclosure Preventions Surpass 3.9 Million
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its second quarter Foreclosure Prevention Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 48,760 foreclosure prevention actions in the second quarter of 2017, bringing the total number of troubled homeowners helped to 3,931,224 since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008. Of…
CFPB: Understand Your Options | Tips for Student Loan Borrowers with Disabilities
Student loan borrowers with disabilities face unique challenges when repaying student loan debt. Borrowers with disabilities complain to the Bureau about servicing breakdowns and debt collection obstacles. These breakdowns can increase borrowers’ financial distress. Servicing breakdowns that lead to delinquency and default can be particularly devastating for borrowers with disabilities. This is because certain of…
CFPB: Announces First No-Action Letter in Efforts to Support Consumer-Friendly Innovation
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced a no-action letter issued to Upstart Network, Inc., a company that uses alternative data in making credit and pricing decisions. As a condition of the no-action letter, Upstart will regularly report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid the Bureau’s…
Joint Release: Agencies Propose Amending CRA Regulations to Conform to HMDA Regulation Changes and Remove NSP References
The federal bank regulatory agencies today issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking to amend their respective Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations primarily to conform to changes made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). Since 1995, the Board of Governors of the Federal…
CFIB: Identity Theft Protection Following the Equifax Data Breach
By Kristin Dohn Millions of Americans have been impacted by the recent Equifax data breach. Whether or not your personal information has been stolen, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your credit. What is identity theft, and what can you do? Sometimes criminals who steal data use it to engage in…
Federal Reserve: Improving the 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage
FEDS (Finance and Economics Discussion Series) 2017-90 | August 2017 Wayne Passmore and Alexander H. von Hafften Abstract: The 30-year fixed-rate fully amortizing mortgage (or “traditional fixed-rate mortgage”) was a substantial innovation when first developed during the Great Depression. However, it has three major flaws. First, because homeowner equity accumulates slowly during the first decade,…