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Democratic Members on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees announced in a press release that new legislation will provide targeted relief to small financial institutions and protection for consumers. This legislation was introduced in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate and has the unanimous support of Democratic Members of the respective committees.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Wednesday morning that a grace period will be in effect for those servicers attempting to comply in good faith with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) requirements that are scheduled to go into effect August 1. While the CFPB did not push back the August 1 implementation date of the rule, it attempted to ease some of those concerns on Wednesday by saying it would take into account a company's good faith effort to comply with the rule after it goes into effect.

TransUnion recently released their National Consumer Survey revealing that as Americans enter into the peak time of the year to buy a home, three out of four of people are aware that their credit score is important, yet they are not sure about how it will affect them when purchasing a home. The survey found that the majority of those who intend to or are considering buying a home in the next 12 to 18 months are not aware of actions that could enhance their credit and are unsure of how their credit directly affects the home financing process.

Beginning on June 15, 2015, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rule 15Ga-2 takes effect for new residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), according to Moody’s Credit Outlook Report. The rule is intended to provide transparency into the credit quality of mortgage loans underlying transactions. The rule will require issuers or underwriters of asset-backed securities (ABS) that nationally recognized statistical rating organization rate to publish the findings and conclusions of any third-party review (TPR) firms’ due-diligence reports on loan quality.

Fitch Ratings has released a sector-specific report for rating state housing finance agency (SHFA) bonds secured, on a pass-through basis, primarily by mortgage-backed securities (MBS) called "State Housing Finance Agencies: MBS Pass-Through Bond Rating Criteria." This report will replace the September 2014 state housing finance agency Fitch rating report.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs recently reported that First Tennessee Bank N.A., headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, has agreed to pay $212.5 million to resolve allegations of its violation of the False Claims Act that stems from Federal Housing Administration-insured (FHA) mortgage lending. Allegedly, First Tennessee Bank knowingly originated and underwrote mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) FHA that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department reported.

In an examination of whether millennials are helping inner cities experience a rebirth, the authors of ProTeck Valuation's Home Value Forecast (HVF) for May determined that while some urban areas with populations dominated by millennials are thriving, urban recovery is still happening slowly nationwide, according to a press release from ProTeck on Monday.

Eric Rosengren, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, said in his speech called “One Policymaker’s Wait for Better Economic Data” at the Capital Workforce Partners “Workforce Stars” Event in Hartford, Connecticut that, predictions concerning the economy have been much weaker than expected in the first half of this year. He also noted that policymakers should wait until the economy picks up before raising short-term interest rates.

A working paper titled, “What’s Behind the Non-Bank Mortgage Boom?”, released by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard's Kennedy School found that, non-bank lending institutions have increased their market share of agency purchase mortgage originations from 27 percent in mid-2012 to 48 percent in late 2014. The study is authored by senior fellow, Marshall Lux, and research assistant, Robert Greene.

Fannie Mae’s gross mortgage portfolio has decreased for the second consecutive month at a compound annualized rate of 17.4 percent in April, according to Fannie Mae’s April 2015 Monthly Volume Summary, released today. The GSE’s book of business decreased in April, dropping at a compound annualized rate of 2.1 percent, from $3.13 trillion in April 2014 to $3.11 trillion in April 2015, according to the summary. The book of business has only seen one positive compounded growth rate increase of 0.4 percent this year in March.