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Mortgage rule relief and consideration of the impact of capital on mortgage servicing assets would help make more mortgage credit available to more credit union members, NAFCU's Carrie Hunt told Senate Banking Committee leaders.

Hunt, NAFCU's senior vice president of government affairs and general counsel, said a majority of credit unions are small financial institutions that operate with limited staff.

"It is a struggle for them to keep abreast with the constantly changing regulations and growing regulatory burden," Hunt said in a letter to Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, ahead of today's committee hearing, "Regulatory Burdens to Obtaining Mortgage Credit."

Hunt reiterated recommendations made by NAFCU in recent House and Senate hearings on regulatory relief. She urged numerous changes to CFPB's qualified mortgage requirements, including an increase in or removal of the 43 percent debt-to-income cap in QM factors, revisions to the calculation of points and fees and inclusion of all mortgages with terms not exceeding 40 years in the definition of QM.

In other recommendations, Hunt urged:

• easing in the "rural area" exemption in CFPB ability-to-repay rules;
• CFPB forbearance on compliance with integrated mortgage disclosure rules set to take effect Aug. 1 (as NCUA has already agreed to provide);
• parity for credit unions in Federal Housing Finance Administration rules on Federal Home Loan Bank membership (a proposed rule would be harsher on credit unions than banks).

NAFCU urged such measures in hearings held in February and March on regulatory relief. On Wednesday, Shelby also announced the panel plans a mark-up on regulatory relief "and other matters" May 14.