REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Cornell Law School

June 8, 2016

What If . . . Fannie and Freddie Imploded?

By David Reiss

So, I was spending some quality time with the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of the Inspector General’s most recent Semiannual Report to the Congress. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is the regulator of Fannie and Freddie as well … Continue reading

June 6, 2016

What Are Mortgage Borrowers Thinking?

By David Reiss

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have released A Profile of 2013 Mortgage Borrowers: Statistics from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations. While sounding dull and perhaps a bit dated, this document is actually … Continue reading

June 2, 2016

Ensuring Sustainable Homeownership

By David Reiss

My short article, Ensuring That Homeownership Is Sustainable, was just published in the Westlaw Journal, Bank & Lender Liability. It opens, The Federal Housing Administration has suffered as a result of many of the same unrealistic underwriting assumptions that led to problems … Continue reading

May 26, 2016

Unruly Arbitration

By David Reiss

I had blogged earlier about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed rule regarding arbitration. Along with 209 other law professors, I submitted a comment letter regarding it. The letter opens, We write to strongly support proposed regulation CFPB-2016-0020, RIN 3170-AA51. … Continue reading

May 16, 2016

Uses & Abuses of Online Marketplace Lending

By David Reiss

  The Department of the Treasury has issued a report, Opportunities and Challenges in Online Marketplace Lending. Online marketplace lending is still in its early stages, so it is great that regulators are paying attention to it before it has fully matured. … Continue reading

May 13, 2016

Affirmatively Furthering Neighborhood Choice

By David Reiss

Jim Kelly has posted Affirmatively Furthering Neighborhood Choice: Vacant Property Strategies and Fair Housing to SSRN (forthcoming in the University of Memphis Law Review). He writes, With the Supreme Court’s Inclusive Cmtys. Project decision in June 2015 and the Obama Administration’s adoption, … Continue reading

May 11, 2016

Consumer Protection’s Holy Grail

By David Reiss

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued a notice and request for comment regarding the Uniform Interagency Consumer Compliance Rating System (the CC Rating System). The FFIEC’s six members represent the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit … Continue reading