Good afternoon —
Since the CFPB first announced on March 4 that it might delay the mandatory compliance date of the QM final rule to October 2022, there has been speculation about why the bureau would make such a rule.
After all, it just issued the final QM rule in December after a painful rule-making process that worked to find a consensus solution among industry trade groups and consumer advocates.
The bureau's statement at the time included this: "Extending the compliance date of the General QM final rule would also give lenders more time to use the GSE Patch, which provides QM status to loans that are eligible for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac."
But regarding the GSE Patch, the GSEs are bound by their agreement with Treasury, as the bureau noted on April 27, when it declared it was going forward with the delay. "The availability of the GSE Patch after July 1, 2021 may be limited by recent revisions to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements entered into by the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency."
Indeed, so what's the real reason for delay?
Former MBA CEO Dave Stevens pointed out some of the risks of delaying compliance of the final rule, noting that it opened up the possibility of re-litigating the whole thing, and the Housing Policy Council echoed that same concern in their comment letter to the bureau.
An article we published today will do nothing to quell those concerns.
Senior Mortgage Reporter Georgia Kromrei found that the person overseeing the rule-making process at the bureau, Diane Thompson, publicly expressed "hate" for the bureau's new general QM rule before being appointed by the Biden administration to her current role at the CFPB.
With Thompson at the helm, should lenders be worrying about the future of the safe harbor under the final QM rule? Read what compliance attorneys had to say, and the CFPB's response, here.
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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