On June 26, 2020 the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration (collectively the Agencies) released proposed new and revised Interagency Questions and Answers Regarding Flood Insurance (FAQs). The FAQs have not been updated since 2011, which is gross incompetence on the part of the Agencies. Since the last revisions Congress has passed the Biggert-Waters Act and the Affordability Act, […]
Month: June 2020
CFPB PROPOSES REVISIONS TO QM DEFINITIONS
On June 22 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued two separate proposals to revise the Ability to Repay/Qualified Mortgages rules contained in Section.1026.43 of Regulation Z The first proposal is 233 pages in length. For General QM loans, the ratio of the consumer’s total monthly debt to total monthly income (DTI ratio) must not exceed 43 percent. The CFPB proposes certain amendments to the General QM loan definition in Regulation Z. Among other things, […]
SCOTUS SEXUAL ORIENTATION DECISION
On June 15, 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), in Bostock v Clayton County, Georgia (Bostock) ruled that firing an employee for being homosexual or transgender constitutes discrimination based on the employee’s sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Bostock is an employment case in which SCOTUS determined that disparate treatment of homosexual or transgender individuals is sex discrimination. Both the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and the Fair Housing Act […]
SBA – PPP IFR TO UPDATE ITS FIRST PPP IFR
On June 12 the Small Business Administration published an interim final rule (IFR) to update its April 2 IFR on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). On June 5, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (Flexibility Act) was signed into law, amending the CARES Act. This interim final rule changes key provisions, such as the loan maturity, deferral of loan payments, and forgiveness provisions, to conform to the Flexibility Act. SBA also is […]
PROPOSED REGULATION Z CHANGES FOR LIBOR TRANSITION
On June 4, 2020 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a 219 page proposal to amend Regulation Z to facilitate creditors’ transition away from using the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as an index for variable-rate consumer credit products. The CFPB is proposing changes to: Certain open-end and closed-end provisions to provide examples of replacement indices for LIBOR indices that meet certain Regulation Z standards. Certain open-end provisions restricting index changes, requiring change-in-terms notices, […]