WASHINGTON—Several Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issues require immediate attention, according to CUNA, which has outlined its concerns in a letter to new FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson.
Thompson was named acting director last week by President Joe Biden after the U.S. Supreme Court found the director could be removed at will by the president. She replaced Dr. Mark Calabria.
In the letter, CUNA also repeated its principles for housing finance reform, which the trade group said outline necessary considerations for credit unions in the reformation in the housing finance system.
The Near Term
In the near term, CUNA is asking the FHFA to:
- Rescind the 0.5% adverse market fee for certain refinanced mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to lower the cost of refinancing for consumers
- Revise its policies regarding the purchase of loans which qualify as qualified mortgages under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) current regulatory framework
- Restructure the GSEs’ approach to implementing the 7% cap on investment and second home loans
- Revisit the fourth set of amendments to the Amended and Restated Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement with the Treasury at the first opportunity
The Longer Term
In the longer term, CUNA said it wants the FHFA to:
- Work with credit unions to further its mission to support sustainable and affordable home ownership
- Carefully examine the education and training requirements for appraisers to ensure they not only understand the existing obligations under the Fair Housing Act, while also ensuring they receive training on implicit and unconscious bias
- Take actions to allow the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) to meet their mission, including, including ensuring individual FHLBanks retain the ability to exercise their own discretion, given that they have more understanding of their communities and their risks; allowing them to provide ancillary services that should not require insured depositories to maintain membership, and protecting their ability to operate in a financially safe and sound fashion to serve primarily as a source of liquidity for the housing finance system