WASHINGTON — June 27 marked a turning point in the continuing tale of woe in the subprime mortgage market, with federal regulators issuing new rules that go into effect immediately.

The new rules require banks to make more disclosures, limit prepayment penalties (70% of subprime loans made in 2006 imposed these penalties) and the use of "stated income" loans (for which borrowers' income is not verified, and 50% of subprime loans in 2006 were made on undocumented income) and also give borrowers a complete picture of the life of the loan. Left out is a "suitability standard" to make sure the consumer gets the best loan for their situation.

The biggest loophole, however, is that the rules do not apply to mortgage brokers, who originated nearly two-thirds of all subprime loans in the latter half of 2005, during the height of the real estate market, which are now repricing.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.