by Sarah Jawaid, National Housing Conference
The National Housing Conference along with a cross-industry group of advocates, lenders and housing professionals wrote a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in support of broader, well-defined rule for Qualified Mortgages (QM). The QM rule implements requirements from the Dodd-Frank law to reform mortgage finance in the wake of the housing crisis.
Narrowly defining a qualified mortgage could stall the housing recovery by making access to credit more difficult. The letter observes, “Congress intended that all creditworthy borrowers – especially low- and moderate-income borrowers and families of color – should be extended the important protections of a QM … A broad QM, which includes sound underwriting requirements, excludes risky loan features, and gives lenders reasonable protection against undue litigation risk, will help ensure revival of the home lending market.”