Top Story Lending Related

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) yesterday released a list of CRA performance evaluations that became public in April. The list contains only national banks, federal savings associations, and insured federal branches of foreign banks that have received ratings. The possible ratings are outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve, and substantial noncompliance.

Of the 13 evaluations made public in April, one located in Los Angeles, California, is rated needs to improve, 11 are rated satisfactory, and one is rated outstanding. We congratulate MidFirst Bank, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on its outstanding CRA rating.

Yesterday, SBA Administrator Isabel Casilla Guzman announced a new rule that will remove restrictions on SBA loan programs that currently prevent many returning citizens, including those on parole and probation, from being eligible for SBA-backed loans to start or grow a business. As part of this rule change, the SBA will also remove questions on criminal history from its applications. Individuals who are currently incarcerated and those who have previously defrauded the government will remain ineligible.

In addition to removing restrictions on loan programs for the returning citizen population – including the nearly 4 million Americans on parole or probation – the final rule will also standardize most criminal history eligibility rules across SBA loan programs, which collectively provide more than $40 billion in capital annually to small businesses. The rule change will have no negative impact on the loan repayment process, and the SBA will continue to diligently perform fraud checks on all loan applications in accordance with its Risk Mitigation Framework. Lenders will also continue to evaluate individual loan applications for approval. In that context, lenders can evaluate criminal history on an individualized basis—as part of the full review of a loan application and consistent with federal, state, and local law. Lenders can deny loans based on evidence of an unacceptable credit risk.

No link to the new rule was provided with the press release.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) published new Reconsideration of Value (ROV) policies after months of collaboration with FHFA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration. A Reconsideration of Value is a request to an appraiser to re-assess the appraised value of a property due to potential appraisal reporting deficiencies or inappropriate selection of comparable properties, or based upon additional information the appraiser should consider.

In June 2023, as part of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, FHFA and HUD established a working group to develop consistent ROV standards. The Enterprises’ new policies provide clear requirements for lenders to disclose and outline the ROV process for consumers, standardize communication to appraisers, and establish ROV response expectations. Lenders will also be required to refer appraisers to local, state, and federal agencies for violations of anti-discrimination laws.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the FHA, announced a new FHA requirement for lenders participating in its Single Family program that will enable borrowers to request a re-assessment of the appraised value of their property if they believe that the appraisal was inaccurate or biased.

• Fannie Mae Selling Guide Announcement
• Freddie Mac Bulletin
• FHA ROV Mortgagee Letter

The first 2024 issue of Consumer Compliance Outlook has been released, and is available on the Federal Reserve System’s Consumer Compliance Outlook webpage. Included in this issue are articles on:

• Overview of Private Flood Insurance Compliance Requirements
• Consumer Compliance Requirements for Commercial Products and Services
• Compliance Spotlight: Resources to Combat Increased Check Fraud
• Recent Supervisory Data for Institutions the Federal Reserve Supervises
• and more

The CFPB on Tuesday published research that suggests consumers tend to pay more for products that have more complex pricing structures. The report is based on experiments with multiple rounds of buyers and sellers interacting in simple markets, and found that participants tended to pay more when prices were broken into sub-parts and were harder to understand. The research, said the CFPB, has implications for understanding how junk fees impede fair and competitive pricing in markets like auto loans or mortgages, where consumers have to evaluate extended warranties, add-ons, closing costs, and a wide variety of other fees instead of an all-inclusive price.

While not expected to exactly mirror real-world transactions, the CFPB found in these experiments that more complex pricing generally led to more detrimental outcomes for consumers:

• Higher total prices: Sellers' total asking prices were 60 percent higher in markets with 16 sub-prices than in those with one price.
• Comparing prices was more difficult: Buyers were 15 times more likely to select a higher-priced option in markets with 16 sub-prices than in those with one price.
• Consumers paid more overall: Transaction prices were 70 percent higher in markets with 16 sub-prices than in those with one price, on average.

The CFPB has previously highlighted how the use of complex terms and pricing can pose challenges for consumers. In many instances, consumers face complex pricing when shopping for financial products and services including credit cards, checking and savings accounts, mortgages, and auto loans.

• Price Complexity in Laboratory Markets

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reports that U.S. house prices rose in February, up 1.2 percent from January, according to the FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index. House prices rose 7.0 percent from February 2023 to February 2024. The previously reported 0.1 percent price decrease in January remained unchanged.

For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from January 2024 to February 2024 ranged from +0.4 percent in the West South Central division to +3.0 percent in the New England division. The 12-month changes were all positive, ranging from +3.7 percent in the West South Central division to +10.8 percent in the Middle Atlantic division.

“U.S. house prices rebounded with an increase in February, after declining slightly in January” said Dr. Anju Vajja, Deputy Director for FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics. “All nine census divisions experienced price appreciation over the last 12 months, with New England and Middle Atlantic divisions posting double digit growth.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced the creation of a new Division of Public Interest Examination (DPIE), which will be responsible for supervisory oversight of the Agency’s regulated entities in the areas of affordable housing, community development, diversity and inclusion, consumer protection, and fair lending. FHFA serves as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

Establishment of the new division will highlight the Agency’s focus on public interest examinations and increase synergy and collaboration between existing public interest examination programs. James Wylie will serve as the Deputy Director for DPIE. He has led FHFA’s Office of Fair Lending Oversight since 2018.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Monday announced it has released its Fair Lending, Fair Housing, and Equitable Housing Finance Plans Final Rule, together with Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac’s (the Enterprises) Equitable Housing Finance Plan updates for 2024 and Performance Reports for 2023.

The final rule codifies in regulations FHFA’s fair lending oversight requirements for the Enterprises and the Federal Home Loan Banks; the Enterprises’ Equitable Housing Finance Plans (Plans); collection of homeownership education, housing counseling, and language preference information from the Supplemental Consumer Information Form (SCIF); and new Federal Home Loan Bank reporting requirements. The rule will become effective 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register, except for subpart D of the regulation, which becomes effective February 15, 2026.

The FHFA will seek public feedback to inform the next three-year Plans through a Request for Input and listening session. FHFA expects to hold a public listening session in June 2024, and anticipates releasing the next Plans in January 2025.

• Fannie Mae​ 2​024 Equitable Housing Finance Plan
• Fannie Mae 2023 Equitable Housing Performance Report
• Freddie Mac 2024 Equitable Housing Finance Plan
• Freddie Mac 2023 Equitable Housing Performance Report
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The FDIC has released a list of enforcement orders issued against FDIC-supervised institutions and institution-affiliated individuals that were issued in March 2024.

• First Fed Bank, Port Angeles, Washington, was assessed a $500,000 civil money penalty for UDAP and RESPA violations
• The Pitney Bowes Bank, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, was assessed a $6,098 penalty for failing to take the steps needed to allow the FDIC to debit an account at the bank to pay an FDIC assessment for the last quarter of 2023
• Danielle M. Desrosiers, former EVP of Independence Bank, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, was issued an order of prohibition after determining that she engaged or participated in violations of regulations, unsafe or unsound practices, and breaches of her fiduciary duties owed to the Bank in connection with loan applications submitted by one of the bank’s referral agents and breached her fiduciary duty by failing to document or disclose to the Bank her conflicts of interest with the referral agent.
• Carlene Bartley, formerly an operations specialist at Flushing Bank, Uniondale, New York, was issued an order of prohibition after determining that she embezzled $74,937 from three deceased customers' accounts
• River Bank & Trust, Prattville, Alabama, received a consent order from the FDIC and the State of Alabama Banking Department after the agencies concluded that the bank violated certain provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act and related federal and state regulations
• The Exchange Bank, Skiatook, Oklahoma, was issued a consent order by the FDIC and the Oklahoma State Banking Department for unspecified alleged unsafe or unsound banking practices and violations of law and/or regulations. The order directs the bank to take specific actions to improve its BSA/AML/CFT compliance program.

The CFPB has announced it will join the Department of Transportation at 10:00 a.m. ET, May 9, 2024, to host a hearing on airline and credit card rewards programs. Members of the public will hear from CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who will moderate a discussion with industry representatives, labor leaders, and consumer advocates about competition issues and challenges that consumers are experiencing with airline and credit card rewards programs.

A livestream of the event will be available on the day of the hearing.