WASHINGTON–This week will mark the first full week for the new Trump administration and like other industries credit unions are attempting to sort through what it will mean, where opportunities might be found and where threats could emerge.
Late last week CUNA sent a letter to the CFPB calling for a government-wide regulatory freeze. The letter is the second CUNA has sent to the agency making the same request.
In a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, CUNA CEO Jim Nussle urged the CFPB to impose an immediate moratorium on all of its pending and future rulemakings, other than those providing corrective regulatory relief.
“With the new administration having taken office, and in light of both the recent ruling in the PHH case as well as the President’s directive for a government-wide freeze on regulations, we expect the Bureau will suspend rulemaking activity that creates new burdens for credit unions and other providers,” wrote Nussle. “A moratorium will give credit unions time to catch up with all of the recently imposed requirements and it will give the Bureau time to figure out how to focus its rules on Wall Street and get out of the way of Main Street.”
In other developments:
- The FHA on Friday reversed a cut in mortgage insurance premiums that had been announced just days ago under outgoing Housing and Urban Development head Julian Castro.As CUToday.info reported here, the FHA announced a reduction in premiums from .085% to 0.60%. In response, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) called the move “cynical” and said it puts taxpayers at risk.
- In a statement following Trump’s swearing in, the FHA said the reduction “has been suspended indefinitely,” and that it will “issue a subsequent Mortgagee Letter at a later date should this policy change.”
- Dr. Ben Carson, who has been nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said during his nomination hearing he believed the cut should be reviewed. At the time it announced the cut, the FHA had estimated it represented an average of $500 per year in savings for homebuyers.
- Like millions of other businesses, credit unions are also keeping a keen eye on the future of healthcare costs both for their own employees and members. Among his first acts in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at starting the path toward repeal of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Attention will now be heavily focused on what the administration and Congress propose to replace the healthcare plan.