Daily Dose

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a rule that would update the reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The proposed rule purports to standardize the reporting threshold for most lenders, relax the reporting requirements for some smaller lenders, and improve the electronic reporting process.

The fallout of the financial crisis caught up to another bank over the weekend, resulting in a shutdown by federal regulators. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced on Friday the closure of Chicago-based GreenChoice Bank. The recently shuttered bank is the second to fall in Illinois in the past two months and the 14th FDIC-insured institution to close so far this year.

NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, an indicator of future home sales based on contract signings, fell to 102.7 last month, down 1.1 percent from May and 7.3 percent from June 2013. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said that while the housing market is stabilizing, ongoing challenges are holding sales back from their full potential.

Home prices in May hit a national index value of $239,000, according to Black Knight Financial Services' most recent Home Price Index (HPI) report.

Despite an anticipated pickup in economic growth and housing recovery in the second half of this year, Fannie Mae expects the economy to grow at just 1.5 percent overall this year. Fannie revised its previous estimate of 2.1 percent growth for 2014 after a disappointing start to the year.

Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio shrank in June at its slowest pace so far this year as new business hit a six-month high. The mortgage giant reported in its June volume summary that its total portfolio declined at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent, down from May's contraction rate of 2.1 percent and bringing the monthly growth average to -2.0 percent.

The ongoing tension between the Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee saw a new development this week as Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), committee chair and vocal critic of Attorney General Eric Holder, requested the department turn over all of its documents related to its recent securities settlements with JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

Credit standards at large lenders appear to be loosening somewhat, while criteria at small and mid-sized lenders appear to be tightening, according to a new survey from Fannie Mae. Lenders that reported tightening credit standards most often stated "changing regulatory requirements" as the rationale for their stricter standards.

Jesse Litvak, registered broker-dealer and former managing director at investment bank Jefferies & Co., Inc., was sentenced this week to two years in federal prison in connection to his conviction for defrauding consumers trading in residential mortgage-backed securities, the office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced.

In its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac recorded a 4.13 percent average interest rate (0.6 point) for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) product for the week ending July 24, unchanged from last week's survey results. The latest movement—or lack of movement—among interest rates follows news of mixed activity in the housing market in June.