Law and regulation

The Federal Housing Administration has rescinded guidelines that would have made it harder for consumers to qualify for a mortgage if they have a collection action or disputed credit account of at least $1,000.

We finally have a regulator with no mandate to preserve banks' image. To protect consumers, the CFPB must assure that those who cheat them are punished. New rules won't help if we don't enforce the old ones.

It was a wild time in Washington last week, with Jamie Dimon taking up most of the oxygen with his testimony on Wednesday. But there were other highlights that shouldn’t be missed. Following is the Top 5 Stories:

State regulators closed banks in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee on Friday, making June a busy month for failures.

Members of the House Financial Services Committee have a chance Tuesday to pose tougher questions about the JPMorgan trading losses than their Senate counterparts did.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is adding to its efforts to protect vulnerable groups of consumers with a new study into elder financial abuse.

With Congress nearing a vote on a new Farm Bill that will set agricultural policy for the next five years, the banking industry is urging lawmakers to resist efforts to weaken the federal crop insurance program.

Maybe George Bailey should've jumped — and made his savings and loan a commercial bank. If he had, he'd have been much better prepared for the Fed's decision to raise certain capital requirements, a move some are calling the death knell for the classic thrift business model: lend to home buyers like crazy.

As with housing, different bank markets across the country have crashed and recovered at different speeds. Measured by institutions with high Texas ratios, stress has tapered quickly in states like Washington and California, but remains elevated in Georgia, Illinois and Florida.

Home Depot told shareholders that interchange price controls would add "$35 million a year" to the bottom line. Why should consumers now believe the company has chosen not to keep these newfound gains for itself?

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.

Both Democrats and Republicans went easy on Jamie Dimon at the Senate Banking Committee hearing on June 13, but GOP fawning over the JPMorgan chief executive drew the ire of "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart on Thursday night.

We need a system in which credit bureaus are required to sell consumer data at a uniform price to any company with permission to access it, instead of pricing out perceived competitive threats or withholding the information.

A senior Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official brought the agency's charm offensive to the West Coast, praising bankers and non-bank executives for providing financial services to poor consumers.

The party-line vote sets up a showdown with House Republicans over the budget of an agency that plays a key role in implementing Dodd-Frank.

More banks may decide to sell if they conclude Congress will not renew the capital gains tax cut, Deloitte's Sharon Weinstein says.

The constant criticism from Congress just makes the rulemaking process longer without adding much to the debate.

Student borrowers said private student loan debt is hampering their ability to get married, start a family, buy a house or even work in their field of choice.

New York financial firms would move jobs overseas if the U.S. grants the industry's request to exempt companies' foreign branches from some Dodd-Frank Act rules, said Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A proposal by regulators to revamp the way banks must measure risk on certain assets is alarming many community bankers, who argue it will raise capital requirements, increase compliance costs and curb lending.