Three bills – extending the “qualified mortgage” safe harbor, reducing reporting requirements for smaller financial institutions, and combatting the financial network of transnational criminals – were approved by the House Tuesday.
All three passed by voice vote. The bills, and some details, include:
- The Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act (H.R. 2226, sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.) amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to extend the “qualified mortgage” safe harbor to loans held in portfolio by some depository institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. Loans eligible for safe harbor treatment cannot have negative amortization or interest-only features, and must to comply with limits on prepayment penalties. The creditor must document and “continually verify a consumer’s income, employment, assets, and credit history,” according to a summary of the bill.
- The Community Bank Reporting Relief Act (H.R. 4725, sponsored by Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill.) requires the federal banking agencies (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [OCC], Federal Reserve, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. [FDIC]) to issue regulations that allow for reduced reporting requirements for depository institutions with less than $5 billion in assets, and that “meet such other criteria as agencies deem appropriate,” when they file call reports for the first and third quarters of the year.
- The National Strategy for Combating the Financing of Transnational Criminal Organizations Act (H.R. 4768, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn.) requires the Treasury Department, working with the federal banking agencies, to develop a national strategy to combat the financial network of transnational organized criminals. The strategy is then required to be submitted Congress not later than one year after the bill’s enactment and biennially thereafter.
H.R. 2226 – Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act
H.R. 4725 – Community Bank Reporting Relief Act
H.R. 4768 – National Strategy for Combating the Financing of Transnational Criminal Organizations Act