Mulvaney Seeks To Change The Qualified Mortgage Rule

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) acting director Mick Mulvaney is looking to change the Qualified Mortgage (QM) rule.

“Our duty is to look at unduly and overly burdensome regulations, and our statutory interest is to see markets function,” Mulvaney said at the National Association of Realtors conference in Washington, according to American Banker. “You’re going to see us try to bring some sanity to the larger market, including QM.”

Mulvaney agrees with the lending industry’s assertion that the rule assumes all mortgages are the same without looking at the different types of lenders and mortgage products. He used the comparison between getting a mortgage from Rocket Mortgage or Quicken to obtaining the financing from a local credit union.

“If you think you can have a one-size-fits-all rule for every single mortgage, you don’t understand the mortgage business,” Mulvaney said. “There’s a difference between the mortgage that goes out on Quicken, or Rocket Mortgage … and the one that my local credit union does for someone that they’ve known for three generations. Those are not the same thing, and to think that we’re going to try and force a square peg into a round hole impairs the ability of the market to function properly.”

The CFPB is scheduled to review the impact of the QM rule this year, as the Dodd-Frank Act requires the agency to review rules five years after they take effect. Mulvaney also urged realtors and lenders to submit comments on the requests already published.

“I’ve been a little surprised at the lack of participation in a couple of areas,” said Mulvaney, adding that the CFPB had received only six responses from one request, and five were for a different department. “I need information from you folks, I need information from consumers. I need information from everybody who has a dog in the fight to send us the information in response to these requests.”