Smaller mortgage lending institutions remain apprehensive about their legal liability when it comes to originating qualified mortgages under the CFPB’s pending QM/ability-to-repay rule, and hope they’ll get a full safe harbor. Recent talk has mounted that the bureau is considering a two-tier approach to its QM rule: a safe harbor for mortgages that will be defined as “prime,” and the lesser rebuttable presumption for subprime or nonprime. Elizabeth Eurgubian, vice president and regulatory counsel for the...