Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon.
Eleventh Circuit vacates one-to-one consent rule on robocalls
This past week in a robocalls case, “Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited (IMC) v. Federal Communications Commission (FCC),” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that the FCC’s additional restrictions on “prior express consent” were inconsistent with the ordinary statutory meaning of the phrase. This means that lenders who buy online leads through comparison shopping sites (think NerdWallet) can avoid the FCC’s restrictions on robocalls and texts through its “one-to-one consent” rule, an order by the FCC in 2023 under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), aimed at reducing unwanted robocalls and texts to consumers who submit their information via those NerdWallet-like comparison sites.
The court found that the FCC’s one-to-one-consent and “logically and topically related restrictions” impermissibly altered this meaning, i.e., that the FCC had exceeded its statutory authority by imposing additional restrictions that were not supported by the TCPA’s text. The Eleventh Circuit granted IMC’s petition for review, vacated the relevant part of FCC’s 2023 Order (Part III.D), and remanded the case for further proceedings.
You can review the text of the full case summary here.
MBA calls on the CFPB to postpone compliance deadlines for non-bank registration regulation
On January 24, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to postpone compliance deadlines for its Non-bank Registration Regulation, citing concerns over implementation timelines and undue regulatory burden amid a new presidential freeze on pending rules.
The request followed President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order directing federal agencies to implement a 60-day postponement of recently published regulations that haven’t yet taken effect so the new administration has time to review them. Similar orders have been implemented in previous administrations during their transition. As of Friday, the CFPB has not responded to MBA’s request.
Read our full coverage of the MBA’s request here.
Economists roundup on mortgage rates
As mortgage rates continued to hover just under 7% this week, industry economists honed in on the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged this week and its short-term effect on the housing industry. Regarding mortgage rates, most see them falling gradually over the year ahead. Here’s a look at some of their comments from the week:
“Though this is not a particularly eventful week when it comes to mortgage rates, the future is far from certain. The Fed’s decision on Wednesday will not put any downward pressure on mortgage rates in the near term, and the new Trump administration’s agenda, which continues to emphasize tariffs as a tool of geopolitical aggression, will almost certainly be inflationary. Rising inflation will further tie the hands of the Federal Reserve, preventing direct decreases to interest rates, and indirectly will pull mortgage rates up as debt market investors demand greater future returns in response.”
–Realtor.com® Senior Economist Joel Berner
“The Federal Reserve announced yesterday it was keeping the short-term federal funds rate unchanged, but as far as the potential effect on mortgage rates, it was less about the Fed’s action (or inaction) and more about the economic data the central bank is watching. A key reason the Fed did not cut interest rates this week is because inflation remains above its 2% target level, and, in fact, has moved higher over the past three months amidst strong economic conditions. Those higher inflation expectations will mean mortgage rates are likely to remain in the high 6% range for longer than expected, though rates could bump around as more economic data come out in the weeks ahead.”
–Dr. Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS Chief Economist
“The 30-year fixed-rate has hovered between 6% and 7% for most of the last two and a half years. That trend continued this week, with the average rate remaining essentially flat at 6.95%. Driven by these higher rates and a persistent supply shortage, affordability hurdles still exist for many homebuyers, and a significant number of them remain on the sidelines.”
–Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist
Investors expect GSEs to be privatized during Trump administration
A survey conducted by JPMorgan in January found that almost half of investors who buy mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) expected Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be privatized by 2028, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump has made it clear he wants to take the GSEs out of their conservatorship, but was unable to do so during his first term.
If the GSEs are privatized with only their current capital levels, respondents indicated risk premiums on MBS would widen by as much as 45 basis points. The specifics of how privatization of the GSEs would look remain unclear.
