BRIEFLY: Biden replaces FHFA director after high court ruling; FCU usury ceiling stays at 18%; TRANSITION: Murray retires at Vizo Financial Corporate; Congress votes to repeal ‘true lender’ rule

(June 25, 2021) The Supreme Court ruled this week that the director of the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) may be fired by the president, overturning the agency’s structure which held that the director could only be removed “for cause” – and the same day, that’s what the president did. The White House said that President Joe Biden (D) had fired FHFA Director Mark Calabria (in office since 2019) and replaced him (as acting director) with Sandra Thompson, who has served as deputy director of the agency’s division of housing mission and goals since 2013. She worked before that for more than 23 years at the FDIC … The loan interest rate ceiling for federal credit unions will remain at 18% through March 10, 2023, under action taken Thursday by unanimous vote of the NCUA Board – the 23rd time the board has approved the ceiling since it was initially set in 1987 … Farewell to Jay Murray who has retired as CEO of Vizo Financial Corporate CU effective June 1 after nearly 30 years with the corporate — and congrats to David Brehmer who had been serving as president is now president and CEO of VFCCU … The House on Thursday joined the Senate (both with bipartisan – if narrowly so – votes) to repeal the OCC’s “true lender” rule. President Biden has indicated he will sign it into law. The rule, the first financial regulator rule from the Trump era to be overturned by Congress, aimed to determine when a bank is a “true lender” within the context of a partnership between it and a third party. It had been criticized by consumer groups and others, saying it leaves customers vulnerable to predatory “rent-a-bank” schemes, in which an agreement is made between a bank and a third party to advance the loan – but then the bank takes over the loan once the transaction is completed.