A new proposal by the CFPB could allow community banks and credit unions to make "qualified mortgages" more easily. Under current rules, lenders with less than $2 billion in assets and fewer than 500 first-lien loans originations per year can attain QM status if loans are held in portfolio, even if a loan's debt-to-income ratio exceeds QM's normal limit of 43%. The proposal would expand that advantage to more banks by raising the origination limit to 2,000 loans. It would also exclude loans that a bank keeps in its portfolio from the amount that counts against the limit. In addition, any institution not in an urban area would be recognized as "rural." CDFI  banks will continue to be fully exempt from the ATR-QM rule.