Tag Archives: American Bankers Association

The debate over what constitutes a Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) is heating up, with a pivotal argument centered around whether or not the proposed QRM stipulations will actually lower the risk of default. In one corner you have the handful of regulators charged with putting the definition of QRM into the rule book, and in the other corner you have just about everybody else, with consumer advocates joining mortgage bankers in a rare showing, and congressional lawmakers standing firmly alongside them.

The American Bankers Association has sent a letter to key lawmakers in the Senate, urging them to reject foreclosure legislation proposed by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Olympia Snowe. Their bill, tagged the Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act, has been introduced as an amendment to a larger economic development bill being considered. It mandates an independent, third-party case review prior to foreclosure, among other things, and the bankers group says it would prolong the market correction by slowing down legitimate foreclosures.

The 18 members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform voted Friday on a proposal to reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion by 2020. Their plan recommended reducing and in some cases eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction that homeowners have been accustomed to for more than 80 years. Though the commission voted in support of the proposal with an 11-7 vote, those margins did not meet the 14-4 stipulation required to automatically send the recommendations to Congress.

Last week the Treasury Department released a detailed report of Elizabeth Warren's schedule beginning October 20 when she became the White House advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The calendar confirms a few things: first of all, Warren has been extremely busy.

Former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating will join the American Bankers Association (ABA) as president and CEO on December 1. ABA's current president and CEO, Ed Yingling, is retiring. In addition to his eight years as governor of Oklahoma, Keating has held senior positions with the Justice Department, Treasury, and HUD in Washington, D.C.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and six other industry groups sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday, voicing their concern that the Fed, which has jurisdiction over the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and HUD, which oversees the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), will create regulatory rules that overlap. The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will be overseen by yet another agency, the Treasury, and will have regulatory authority over consumer disclosures.