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May 7, 2014 – NAFCU's Brad Thaler urged committee passage of a bill to ease points and fees restrictions under CFPB's mortgage rules, and other measures that would ease onerous rules, in a letter to the House Financial Services Committee in advance of today's mark-up of the bills.

In a letter Tuesday to committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs, urged support for four measures:

• H.R. 3211, the "Mortgage Choice Act," introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., would clarify the definition of points and fees under the Truth in Lending Act and applied in CFPB's qualified mortgage rule.
• H.R. 2673, the "Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act," introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., would automatically qualify residential mortgage loans held in portfolio by originators for the qualified mortgage safe harbor.
• H.R.4521, the "Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act," from Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., would exempt credit unions under $10 billion in assets from a Dodd-Frank Act requirement that mortgage lenders hold escrow accounts for five years for higher priced, first-lien mortgages. It would also ease rules for servicers that annually service 20,000 or fewer mortgages.
• H.R. 4466, the "Financial Regulatory Clarity Act," introduced by Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., would require regulators to review whether new proposals are duplicative or inconsistent with existing rules.

Thaler noted NAFCU's five-point plan for credit union regulatory relief and said today's markup "is a positive step forward in providing this type of relief."

NAFCU on Tuesday also signed onto a joint letter with other financial services trades, including CUNA and Community Mortgage Lenders Association, urging committee support for H.R. 3211.

Today's markup begins at 10 a.m. Eastern.