Author: W. Brad Washburn, CRCM, CAMS
On March 13, 2026, the Trump Administration issued Executive Order 14393 (“the order”, titled “Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit,”). The order is a sweeping directive aimed at reducing regulatory burdens in the mortgage market and expanding access to home financing, particularly through community and smaller banks, which are often considered most impacted by the regulatory burden. Per the order, smaller banks are considered those with less than $100 billion assets and community banks are considered those with less than $30 billion assets.
This order signals a material shift in regulatory posture, with a clear emphasis on streamlining compliance requirements, modernizing mortgage processes, and increasing lender participation in residential mortgage lending.
The stated objective is to:
At its core, the order reflects a policy shift away from highly prescriptive, process-driven compliance toward a more risk-based, outcomes-focused regulatory framework.
Key Regulatory Areas Potentially Affected
The order directs federal financial regulators, including the CFPB, Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, and others to review and potentially revise a wide range of mortgage-related regulations.
The following summary highlights key areas and objectives regulators are directed under the order to review and potentially revise regulations, supervisory guidance, or regulatory approach.
Ability-to-Repay (ATR) / Qualified Mortgage (QM) Reform
TRID and Disclosure Modernization
Modernization of Rescission Processes
HMDA Reporting Relief
Capital, Liquidity, and Secondary Market Reforms
Appraisal and Valuation Modernization
Servicing, Construction Lending, and Licensing Relief
Prudential regulators are also directed to review and potentially revise regulations and/or update supervisory guidance as necessary to promote:
Supervisory and Enforcement Philosophy Shift
The order represents a notable shift toward principles-based supervision but also introduces interpretive uncertainty during the transition period.
Conclusions and Key Takeaways
Executive Order 14393 represents one of the most significant recent efforts to restructure the mortgage regulatory environment, with the potential to reshape compliance expectations across origination, servicing, and reporting. While the order states the administration’s broad intentions, we will have to wait until proposed rules are released for comment to have a better understanding of the specific impacts to mortgage compliance and reporting requirements going forward. However, as we have seen with previous mortgage deregulation efforts in the prior Trump administration, any proposed changes to regulations and guidance may be subject to successful legal challenges.
While the order is deregulatory in intent, it does not eliminate compliance risk, it redefines it, placing greater emphasis on judgment, governance, and risk management effectiveness. Strong compliance review and internal monitoring processes will continue to be important as regulatory focus will continue to promote a bank’s correction of good faith technical errors and robust processes for self-identification and remediation of appropriate compliance matters.
We are actively tracking regulatory developments, agency rulemaking, and industry responses related to the order. As implementing guidance becomes available, we will provide timely updates and will be here as a resource to help you adapt.
If you have questions or if there are any other ways we can assist you, please contact our team.
On March 13, 2026, the Trump Administration issued Executive Order 14393 (“the order”, titled “Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit,”). The order is a sweeping directive aimed at reducing regulatory burdens in the mortgage market and expanding access to home financing, particularly through community and smaller banks, which are often considered most impacted by the regulatory burden. Per the order, smaller banks are considered those with less than $100 billion assets and community banks are considered those with less than $30 billion assets.
This order signals a material shift in regulatory posture, with a clear emphasis on streamlining compliance requirements, modernizing mortgage processes, and increasing lender participation in residential mortgage lending.
The stated objective is to:
- Reduce compliance costs associated with mortgage origination and servicing.
- Reinvigorate community bank participation in mortgage lending.
- Improve access to credit for creditworthy borrowers, particularly in rural and low-to-moderate income segments.
At its core, the order reflects a policy shift away from highly prescriptive, process-driven compliance toward a more risk-based, outcomes-focused regulatory framework.
Key Regulatory Areas Potentially Affected
The order directs federal financial regulators, including the CFPB, Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, and others to review and potentially revise a wide range of mortgage-related regulations.
The following summary highlights key areas and objectives regulators are directed under the order to review and potentially revise regulations, supervisory guidance, or regulatory approach.
Ability-to-Repay (ATR) / Qualified Mortgage (QM) Reform
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise ATR/QM rules to:
- Tailor requirements for smaller banks and expand safe harbors for portfolio lending.
- Provide potential relief from points-and-fees caps for small-balance loans.
- Move toward less rigid underwriting compliance expectations, by reducing unnecessarily burdensome elements and greater reliance on prudent lender judgment.
TRID and Disclosure Modernization
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise TRID rules to:
- Replace strict TRID disclosure timing requirements with a materiality-based disclosure framework, to reduce closing delays.
- Tailor TILA/RESPA disclosure obligations for smaller institutions and potentially streamline requirements relative to rate-and-term refinancings.
Modernization of Rescission Processes
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise Right of Rescission rules to:
- Modernize the right to rescission for mortgage lending, for example by enabling increased secure electronic and digital forms and processes.
- Exempt rate-and-term refinances (including cash-out refinances) from rescission rights.
HMDA Reporting Relief
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise HMDA rules to:
- Raise the asset threshold to make more institutions exempt from HMDA reporting.
- Place emphasis on privacy protections in reporting and reducing the costs associated with HMDA compliance.
Capital, Liquidity, and Secondary Market Reforms
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise capital regulations to:
- Tailor capital requirements to better reflect actual credit risk of mortgage assets.
- Modernize and expand Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) liquidity programs.
- Enhance access to longer-term funding tied to mortgage lending.
Appraisal and Valuation Modernization
- Regulators are directed to revisit and possibly revise and modernize appraisal regulations to:
- Increase use of automated valuation models (AVMs), AI tools, and hybrid appraisals.
- Reduce appraisal requirements for low-risk transactions, including low-LTV refinancing transactions, and low balance loans, as well as setting clear appraisal timelines.
Servicing, Construction Lending, and Licensing Relief
Prudential regulators are also directed to review and potentially revise regulations and/or update supervisory guidance as necessary to promote:
- Simplification of mortgage servicing requirements through aligning supervisory expectations to support portfolio mortgage servicing as a core community banking function; extending cure-first standards to good-faith servicing errors; simplifying loss mitigation requirements; and provide exemptions from complex mortgage services for smaller banks.
- Revising supervisory guidance both to exclude one-to-four-family residential development and construction lending from commercial real estate concentration guidance and providing support for responsible construction lending by community banks.
- Elimination of duplicative or unnecessary licensing requirements for mortgage loan officers at any smaller bank.
Supervisory and Enforcement Philosophy Shift
The order represents a notable shift toward principles-based supervision but also introduces interpretive uncertainty during the transition period.
- Under the order, regulators are encouraged to:
- Allow institutions a reasonable opportunity for self-identification and remediation of appropriate compliance matters.
- Consider good corporate conduct, including a bank's correction of good-faith, technical compliance errors.
- Limit civil monetary penalties to willful, knowing, or reckless violations.
Conclusions and Key Takeaways
Executive Order 14393 represents one of the most significant recent efforts to restructure the mortgage regulatory environment, with the potential to reshape compliance expectations across origination, servicing, and reporting. While the order states the administration’s broad intentions, we will have to wait until proposed rules are released for comment to have a better understanding of the specific impacts to mortgage compliance and reporting requirements going forward. However, as we have seen with previous mortgage deregulation efforts in the prior Trump administration, any proposed changes to regulations and guidance may be subject to successful legal challenges.
While the order is deregulatory in intent, it does not eliminate compliance risk, it redefines it, placing greater emphasis on judgment, governance, and risk management effectiveness. Strong compliance review and internal monitoring processes will continue to be important as regulatory focus will continue to promote a bank’s correction of good faith technical errors and robust processes for self-identification and remediation of appropriate compliance matters.
We are actively tracking regulatory developments, agency rulemaking, and industry responses related to the order. As implementing guidance becomes available, we will provide timely updates and will be here as a resource to help you adapt.
If you have questions or if there are any other ways we can assist you, please contact our team.
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