WASHINGTON—The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Friday reopened the comment period on its request for information on issues facing mortgage borrowers who have limited English proficiency.
The comment period closed July 31, but is now runs through Sept. 1.
NAFCU and several other financial industry trades in June urged the agency to provide more time for input from stakeholders on the FHFA's plans, which would apply to loans sold on the secondary market through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In own official comment letter, NAFCU noted concerns about potential costs and legal liabilities under federal consumer protection laws as a result of the FHFA's suggested plans for facilitating mortgage access to LEP borrowers. To mitigate that, NAFCU urged the FHFA to develop a centralized system of publicly available translated mortgage materials and to provide new resources and information about multi-lingual housing counseling services.
These resources should come from and remain with the government-sponsored enterprises and the FHFA, not be shifted onto mortgage lenders and servicers, the association said. For the FHFA to fully realize its increased language access goals without adding to regulatory burden, NAFCU added, the CFPB "should first provide clear, tailored, and reasonable rules for fair lending laws and its unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (UDAAP) authority."
NAFCU, in its July 28 letter, also addressed the potential impact on credit union systems and written and oral disclosures.