“Nothing says, ‘I mean business’ than using a shopping cart at the liquor store.” We’re already 10 percent through with 2025, and residential lenders and vendors don’t know whether “meaning business” is spending their time watching Washington DC or trying to help their borrowers. Or both. Trump fired CFPB head Rohit Chopra and appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Interim Head. Certainly there is this school of thought: Consumer ‘watchdog’ hounded US businesses, let’s shut it down. Bessent’s first action was to suspend everything the CFPB is doing. The agency suspended the effective dates for all rules that have yet to go into effect, pause all litigation (they are only allowed to file for continuances), and stop rule-making. They also were told to cease public comment. Meanwhile, yesterday it seemed like every trade group congratulated Scott Turner on his confirmation to serve as HUD Secretary. Ginnie Mae, for example, into which most FHA and VA loans are placed, is a government-owned corporation of the United States Federal Government within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Optimal Blue. OB bridges the primary and secondary mortgage markets to deliver the industry’s only end-to-end capital markets platform, helping lenders maximize profitability and operate efficiently so they can help American borrowers achieve the dream of homeownership. Hear an interview with Experian’s Joy Mina and David Fay on reducing pipeline fallout and improving loan pull-through rate.)