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On Monday, July 9, 2012, NAR joined the Consumer Mortgage Banking Project (CMBP) in responding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) request for additional information and data in developing the Qualified Mortgage (QM) test.
If a lender meets the test and makes a QM, they will receive yet to be determined legal protections if a borrrower challenges whether they met the ability to repay requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. NAR and CMBP provided extensive analysis with regard to Debt to Income ratios and their value or lack thereof in determining a consumer's ability to repay.
In addition, NAR provided the CFPB information arguing in favor of giving lenders some type of "safe harbor" under the QM standard to reduce litigation risks and provide more certainty to encourage maximum accesss to credit.
Finally, the comments also reiterated the need to fix discrimination against real estate firms and mortgage banks with affiliates involved in the transaction when calculating fees and points on the QM standard. NAR is working to fix this problem at both the regulatory and legislative level via HR 4323, the Consumer Mortgage Choice Act in order to give consumers maximum choice in selecting a lender.