The controversial Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), which you can read about in our previous blog, “New HVCC Appraisal Rules Blamed for Destroying the Housing Market,” was slated to be terminated upon the creation of the new independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The new agency would assume responsibility for equal opportunity in credit, real estate settlement procedures, financial disclosures to borrowers, and unfair and deceptive marketing in mortgages and other financial products.
Now, however, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency itself seems to be in jeopardy. Squabbling on Capitol Hill regarding how much power and independence the agency should have is moving the bill closer to the congressional junk heap than to a significant new law.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd has set forth the idea of putting the new agency in the Federal Reserve. But Travis Plunkett, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, has stated, “I don’t know if we can have an agency like that in the Federal Reserve.” Watering down of the bill to gain bipartisan support looks to kill any true impact the agency might have had.
The HVCC has been universally unpopular among those in real estate appraisal, and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency looked to be the salvation. But unless some compromise can be reached, the HVCC may be here to stay.
