Friday, May 31, 2013

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau delays redefinition of 'rural'

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is delaying for at least two years its redefinition of "rural counties" that make it easier for banks to write balloon mortgages to farmers and other rural customers, reports Stephen Koff for the The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. In Ohio, 44 counties are typically considered rural, but the CFPB only designated 20 as such. Our item on Koff's original story is here.

During the two-year transition period, the bureau said it "intends to study whether the definitions of 'rural' or 'underserved' should be adjusted and to work with small creditors to transition to other types of products, such as adjustable-rate mortgages,” Koff reports. A state-by-state list of the county designations can be found here.

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