BRIEFLY: Student loan payment moratorium extended; Notice reminds of housing protections for servicemembers; QRM definition unchanged for 2022; Fourth FCU chartered in 2021; Happy holidays – see you next year!

(Dec. 23, 2021) The moratorium on federal student loan payments is extended through May 1, the Biden Administration announced Wednesday, pushing the deadline back from its previous end point of Jan. 31. The White House said the spread of the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus prompted the extension … Landlords and mortgage servicers with military servicemembers and veterans as tenants and clients were put on notice about housing protections enacted for servicemembers during the coronavirus crisis in letters sent this week from the CFPB and the Department of Justice. In their joint letters, the agencies said they reminded landlords and mortgage servicers of important legal housing protections for military families. They noted that some servicemenbers “may have had to relocate or make other changes to their housing arrangements in response to the crisis,” the agencies said. “While military families enjoy the same legal protections and privileges afforded to all other homeowners and tenants, they also have additional housing protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which is enforceable by the DOJ and servicemembers themselves” … Federal banking regulators, along with federal securities industry and housing supervisors, have decided to leave unchanged their definitions of qualified residential mortgage (QRM), the community-focused residential mortgage exemption, and the exemption for qualifying three-to-four-unit residential mortgage loans under their 2014 federal credit risk retention regulations. The decision was based on a review of the rules that began in 2019; the agencies said they have decided, “at this time, not to propose to amend the definition of QRM, the community-focused residential mortgage exemption, or the exemption for qualifying three-to-four-unit residential mortgage loans” … A fourth new federal credit union (FCU) charter for the year, which would offer services to the community of Eatonville, Fla., was announced this week by NCUA. Eatonville FCU is sponsored by the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church Eatonville Florida, Inc. NCUA said the new credit union is the first federally insured financial institution in the community. It has the agency’s low-income designation and may also qualify as a minority depository institution, NCUA said … This issue of NASCUS Report is the final one for 2021; we’re taking a week off next week for the holidays. The next issue of NASCUS Report is scheduled for Jan. 7. Until then: have a terrific Christmas and here’s to a happy New Year!