CitiMortgage CEO Likes CFFB’s New Mortgage Rules

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In an interview to appear on FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Markets Now (1PM/ET), CitiMortgage CEO Sanjiv Das, discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFFB)’s new mortgage rules. Das said that the new mortgage rules makes the industry “much more responsible for giving the right products to the right sets of consumers” and that “it’s very responsible to the borrower.” Das went on to say that the rise in interest rates “that happened last week was mainly because of relative perceived strength in the European economy.”

Excerpts from the interview are below:

 

On the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new mortgage rules:

“My take on it, is that it is very good. It’s very responsible to the borrower. It makes the industry that much more responsible for giving the right products to the right sets of consumers. So for example it says loans that are interest only will not be qualified anymore. That means that consumers will essentially be sold principle and interest mortgages. And so there are no surprises at the end of five years with your rates at least spiking up, all your payments are at least spiking up – if you now have to start pay principle. So there are some very clear guidelines.”

 

On whether interest rates rising has to do with the United States domestic economy:

“Well the U.S. economy in particularly in housing in the last year has shown a lot of strength, but I think the rate rise that happen last week was mainly because of relative perceived strength in the European economy, but the U.S. economy has been strong in housing. As I said, house prices went up five and a half percent year on year and this has been a much more wide spread growth in house prices then we have seen about six months ago.”

 

On what is driving housing rates right now:

“Well there’s been a lot of uncertainty in U.S. Treasury’s in the last couple of weeks. Mainly because a lot of investors are switched to buying European sovereign bonds and so that caused the U.S. Treasury to go up a little bit and cause mortgage rates to go up a little bit as well.”

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