Smart Ways to Reduce Mortgage Costs in 2026

Sec. 3. Modernization of Home Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Data Collection and Disclosure. (a) The CFPB shall think about, as appropriate and constant with applicable law, proposing changes to Regulation C to raise the property limit for exemption from HMDA data collection and reporting requirements for smaller sized banks, to exclude inquiries from the scope of HMDA, and to ensure that disclosures secure personal privacy and decrease problems, consisting of insufficiently tailored, pricey, and complex software and training needed for reporting banks.

apfsc.org

4. Capital and Liquidity Positioning. (a) The Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve, the Chairman of the NCUA Board, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Director of the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) shall think about, as proper and consistent with suitable law: (i) revising capital regulations, constant with suitable risk-management requirements, to customize risk weights for all banks, consisting of neighborhood banks and other smaller sized banks, for portfolio home loans, maintenance rights, and warehouse lines of credit to the material credit danger of the direct exposure; (ii) updating collateral assessment and transfer systems between the Federal Reserve and Federal Mortgage Banks (FHLBs); (iii) expanding access to longerdated FHLB advances tied to property mortgage properties; (iv) developing targeted FHLB liquidity programs for entrylevel housing, owneroccupied purchase loans, and little property home builders; (v) speeding up security boarding and valuation procedures through standardized data and digital documents; and (vi) refocusing the FHLBs' Budget Friendly Housing Program on faster-cycle execution and higher financial leverage for small-scale and owner-occupied housing tasks.

(c) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Director of the FHFA, in consultation with the heads of other pertinent executive departments and firms, shall send a report to the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget on the effectiveness of national housing financing markets.

Comparing Refinancing vs Short Sale Options

Sec. 5. Building And Construction and Real Estate Supply. (a) The Vice Chairman for Guidance of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the CFPB, the Chairman of the NCUA Board, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the FDIC, and the Comptroller of the Currency, shall think about, as suitable and consistent with appropriate law, revising supervisory guidance both to omit one-to four-family property development and building and construction financing from business realty concentration assistance and to make sure supervisory expectations support responsible building and construction lending by community banks.

apfsc.org

6. Appraisal Modernization. (a) The Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the CFPB, the Chairman of the NCUA Board, the Chairperson of Board of Directors of the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Director of the FHFA will think about, as proper and consistent with applicable law and their statutory authorities: (i) updating appraisal policies and guidance to broaden using alternative evaluation designs, desktop and hybrid appraisals, and expert system valuation tools; (ii) streamlining appraiser qualification requirements; and (iii) decreasing appraisal requirements for low-risk deals, consisting of low loan-to-value refinancing and smallbalance loans; and setting clear appraisal timelines.

Digital Mortgage Modernization. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of HUD, the Secretary of VA, and the Director of the FHFA shall think about, as appropriate and consistent with relevant law: (i) removing unneeded wetsignature requirements for disclosures, applications, closing documents, and similar documents; (ii) standardizing acceptance of electronic signatures, e-notes, and remote online notarization; and (iii) promoting digital mortgage standards.

8. Maintenance and Supervisory Certainty. (a) The Secretary of HUD, the Vice Chairman for Guidance of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the CFPB, the Chairman of the NCUA Board, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the FDIC, and the Comptroller of the Currency shall consider, as proper and consistent with appropriate law: (i) aligning supervisory expectations to support portfolio home loan maintenance as a core community banking function; extending curefirst standards to goodfaith maintenance mistakes; streamlining loss mitigation requirements; and releasing a proposed rule offering exemptions from complicated home loan services for smaller banks; and (ii) ensuring that supervisory examinations of carrying out, wisely underwritten portfolio loans do not concentrate on technical problems or depend on developing supervisory interpretations.

9. Enforcement. (a) The Vice Chairman for Guidance of the Federal Reserve, the Director of the CFPB, the Chairman of the NCUA Board, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the FDIC, and the Comptroller of the Currency shall think about, as proper and constant with appropriate law, promoting a policy versus enforcement actions for violations of customer financial laws that: (i) prevents enforcing civil monetary penalties, except where the underlying violations are willful, understanding, or careless; (ii) considers good business conduct, consisting of a bank's correction of good-faith, technical compliance mistakes; and (iii) allows institutions a sensible opportunity for self-identification and remediation of appropriate compliance matters.