Bankers Divided on Safe Harbor Provision

There's no consensus among bankers on whether the qualified mortgage rule, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue, should include a  certain protection for lenders.

There are two ways the rule could play out: 1.) if a lender offers a mortgage that meets the criteria of a qualified mortgage, there will be a "safe harbor" that the lender automatically considered the borrower’s ability-to-pay;  and 2.) something short of that.

Eight banks sent a letter to the CFPB pressing for inclusion of a safe harbor provision, according to a Wall Street Journal blog post.  "Conspicuously absent, however, were some big mortgage industry names. Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup did not sign it."

The post also says that these banks were involved a position paper put out by the Clearing House Association "agreeing with consumer groups on a potential compromise that would stop short of full legal protection."

For the full piece see "Mortgage Industry Splits on Dodd-Frank Rules" (may require subscription).