The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which has
oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, responded favorably to concerns that we expressed in a recent letter, about a proposed change to the Uniform Residential
Loan Application (URLA) that would have required lenders to inquire about the
language preference of borrowers.
This departure from current practice,
contemplated in the context of a broader update to the URLA, could have potentially raised significant questions about the obligation of credit unions to provide
oral and written translation services to members for whom English is not a
primary language. We have argued that this change should only be undertaken in the context of an
appropriately open process with opportunity for notice and comment. As a result of our advocacy, the FHFA recently elected to table the proposed
change.
We will continue to monitor proposed updates to the URLA, scheduled to be
finalized in 2016 for adoption in 2018, for other potential changes that could
materially affect credit unions' ability to meet their members' demand for
mortgage products.