Politics and policy

VA partial claims bill passes in the Senate

The U.S. Senate passed a partial claims bill aimed at helping Department of Veterans Affairs borrowers avoid foreclosure following the expiration of a previous federal servicing program this past spring.  Senators approved the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act by unanimous consent Tuesday evening after the House of Representatives previously proposed and passed the legislation […]

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FICO challenges FHFA’s VantageScore decision

The FHFA’s nod to VantageScore 4.0 — and silence on FICO’s rival 10T model in a recent X post — has reignited a bitter fight over the future of mortgage credit scoring. A B of A Global Research report dated July 11 on the agency RMBS market pointed to the imprecise language in the post

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Democratic Representatives Schiff, Swalwell, And Omar News Conference On Committee Assignments

Trump says Fannie Mae suspects Schiff of mortgage fraud

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called the Trump administration’s accusations of mortgage fraud regarding his Maryland property political retaliation.Al Drago/Bloomberg Fannie Mae suspects Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of mortgage fraud.  President Trump announced the government-sponsored enterprise’s findings in a Truth Social post Tuesday. The scheme allegedly involves a Maryland property Schiff has owned since at least

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‘Predatory’ NTRAPs outlawed in another state

Officials in New England approved a new law that makes unenforceable a “predatory” practice often targeting older homeowners that binds them to a single real estate broker and limits future options to sell their homes.   Rhode Island recently became the latest state to pass legislation against NTRAPs, or non-title recorded agreements for personal services. Officials

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French Hill

Republicans gear up for Dodd-Frank rollback

Representative French Hill, a Republican from Arkansas and vice chair of the House Financial Services Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C.Al Drago/Bloomberg WASHINGTON — House Republicans began their attempt to roll back significant parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, targeting not just the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau but a laundry list of bank regulation

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Grocery store aisle

Uptick in CPI inflation complicates case for rate cuts

Bloomberg News Inflation continued to rise in June, driven by rising costs of housing and suggesting the Trump administration’s emerging tariff policy is beginning to impact consumer prices.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the Consumer Price Index increased 0.3% in June for an annualized climb of 2.7%. Core CPI, which factors out food

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States lay groundwork for post-CFPB oversight

With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau scaling back enforcement under the Trump administration, states are emerging as the new frontline in mortgage oversight but the shift is more incremental than dramatic, experts say. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains in stasis, some mortgage professionals fear a new era of fragmented compliance — “50 state

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OCC axes disparate impact oversight

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is rolling back disparate impact supervision for banks, it announced Monday. As such, the federal agency’s supervisory process for fair lending compliance will no longer include the examination for cases in which neutral policies have an unequal effect on a protected class such as by race or

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Foreign buyers snapping up U.S. homes again

While some would-be U.S. homebuyers are feeling squeamish about high interest rates and broader economic uncertainty, foreign buyers are increasingly eager to get a slice of the country’s housing market. Foreign buyers bought more than 78,000 homes between April 2024 and March 2025, according to a study from the National Association of Realtors, a 44%

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CFPB logo

Texas judges repeals CFPB’s medical debt rule

Bloomberg News A Texas judge has vacated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s medical debt rule and specifically admonished states that have sought to take medical debt off credit reports in a major win for the Trump administration, banks and two trade groups that sued the agency. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan, of

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