Newsroom

Oct. 24, 2013 – NAFCU lobbyists will closely monitor a couple hearings coming up next week on housing finance reform and the so-called bailout of the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance fund.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing Oct. 29 called "Housing Finance Reform: Essentials of a Functioning Housing Finance System for Consumers," which will feature testimony from representatives from the Center for Responsible Lending, Genworth Financial, Inc., K & L Gates LLP, and the National Consumer Law Center. The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the same day about the Federal Housing Administration, subtitled, "Implications of a $1.7 billion Taxpayer Bailout."

The FHA hearing will focus on the agency's announcement in September that it needed $1.7 billion from the Treasury Department to comply with the Federal Credit Reform Act's requirements that credit agencies have enough reserves to cover anticipated future losses.

These hearings will take place the same day NAFCU witness Lynette Smith, president and CEO of Washington Gas Light FCU in Springfield, Va., will testify on several CFPB reform bills.

At that hearing, held by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Smith will discuss previous NAFCU-supported proposals to reform the agency. Among those are proposals to change CFPB structure, to give the Financial Stability Oversight Council more power to veto CFPB rules, and for the agency to better protect sensitive data it collects.