WASHINGTON—Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Sandra Thompson is being urged by NAFCU to consider the credit union perspective about recent amendments to the government-sponsored enterprises' (GSEs) Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) and the impact on credit unions' ability to provide temporary GSE qualified mortgages through the GSE Patch.
The Treasury and FHFA announced the PSPA amendments in January, which allow the GSEs to retain earnings until they meet capital rule requirements. The announcement also indicated that Treasury will permit the GSEs to raise private capital and exit conservatorship once certain conditions are met, in addition to restructuring the department's investment in each enterprise.
The amendments to the PSPAs diminish new flexibilities brought on by the CFPB's extension of the general qualified mortgage (QM) definition's mandatory compliance date until October of 2022. In a letter to the FHFA, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger sought to draw attention to the mismatch, stating NAFCU "remains concerned about adverse impacts on credit union lenders given the misalignment created by the PSPA amendments."
In addition, Berger called on the FHFA, in conjunction with the Treasury, to "make changes to the PSPAs to resolve this mismatch with the CFPB’s recent extension of the GSE Patch."