With backing from President Obama, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering lowering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits in 2014. Industry participants have used the potential change to call on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to alter requirements for qualified mortgages. Assuming the loan limits are lowered, the problem of excluding too many loans from QM coverage could be addressed, at least temporarily, by modifying the ability-to-repay rule, Pete Mills, a ...