CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
The CFPB has announced that Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Modified Loan Application Register (LAR) data for 2025 are now available on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) HMDA Platform for about 4,768 HMDA filers.
The data published contains loan-level information filed by financial institutions and is modified to protect consumer privacy.… Continue Reading
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently sent a letter to Fair Isaac Corporation announcing that as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and as a member of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, he is investigating the company’s pricing practices in the mortgage credit scoring market.
Fair Isaac generates a consumer credit score known as FICO, which the Senator notes “dominates the credit scoring market with a product used by 90% of lenders, potentially commanding an even larger market share for first-time home buyers.”… Continue Reading
President Trump recently issued an Executive Order entitled “Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit” seeking to promote mortgage lending by community banks and smaller banks. The Executive Order refers to community banks and smaller banks as banks with assets of less than $30 billion and $100 billion, respectively.
The premise of the Executive Order is that “[o]ver the past two decades .… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently revised the requirements for bidding at a foreclosure sale and for utilizing Claims Without Conveyance of Title (CWCOT), including Post-Foreclosure Sales Efforts through the issuance of Mortgagee Letter 2026-03. The changes apply to all single-family forward mortgages under the Title II program, except for Hawaiian Home Lands Mortgages and Insured Mortgages on Indian Land.… Continue Reading
We have previously reported on the tortured history of the disparate impact rule adopted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Fair Housing Act, most recently here. HUD now proposes to remove the rule from its regulations. Comments are due by February 13, 2026.
How did we get here?… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently issued a final rule increasing the asset exemption threshold under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).
Banks, savings associations and credit unions are not subject to the mortgage loan data collection and reporting requirements under HMDA for a calendar year if their assets as of December 31 of the prior calendar year did not exceed an asset threshold.… Continue Reading
The CFPB recently issued a final rule increasing the asset exemption threshold for the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) requirement to maintain an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML).
Regulation Z, which implements the TILA, generally requires creditors to maintain an escrow account for the payment of taxes and insurance on a first lien HPML.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the 2026 loan limits for FHA insured forward mortgage loans and FHA insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs). The announcements were made in Mortgagee Letter 2025-23 and Mortgagee Letter 2025-22, respectively.
For forward mortgage loans in non-high-cost areas, the amount for a single unit home increased from $524,225 in 2025 to $541,287 in 2026.… Continue Reading
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced the conforming loan limits for residential mortgage loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2026. Fannie Mae addresses the limits in Lender Letter 2025-04.
The standard loan limit for a one-unit home increased from $806,500 in 2025 to $832,750 for 2026. … Continue Reading
The CFPB recently released its Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda. In this post, we focus on various residential mortgage-related items included in the Regulatory Agenda. We will address other aspects of the Regulatory Agenda in separate blog posts. To register for our webinar on the Regulatory Agenda, click here.
An initial observation regarding the Regulatory Agenda in general is that it is very ambitious, with a total of 24 rulemaking items, plus one long term action, yet it is not clear how the CFPB could engage in this level of rulemaking given the significant reduction in force planned at the CFPB that we have reported on extensively, and most recently here and here , and also addressed in a recent podcast.… Continue Reading
