Washington - National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) President and CEO Fred R. Becker Jr. today made the following statement regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issuing its final rules on mortgage servicing and appraisals for “higher-risk” mortgages.
“We very much appreciate the CFPB’s raising the small issuer exemption to 5,000 transactions from parts of the mortgage servicing rule, yet we remain concerned as to the ultimate regulatory costs, given that credit unions have been and continue to operate using solid, traditional lending practices and are second to none in servicing their members’ mortgages.”
“NAFCU also appreciates that our concerns regarding the consistency between ‘higher-risk’ and ‘higher–priced’ mortgages and the exemption of certain loans have been heeded. We had urged the NCUA and CFPB to refrain from moving forward with the “higher-priced” mortgage rule, but at the very least to include additional exemptions for certain types and classes of loans.
“At the end of the day, while we appreciate the CFPB’s charge, we are concerned that in the end it will be harder and more expensive for consumers to finance a home. If our economy is to fully recover, housing needs to lead the way. We need to make sure that responsible Main Street credit union lenders aren’t hampered in their efforts to lend to creditworthy Americans.
“We will continue to study the rules to assess their full impact on credit unions and their members.”