The U.S. Federal Reserve will issue new rules next week aimed at protecting future homebuyers from questionable lending practices.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke provided a preview of the Fed's new rules during a speech Tuesday at the FDIC Forum on Mortgage Lending for Low/Moderate Income Households in Arlington, Va. Under the Fed's authorities, the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, the rules -- which will apply to all lenders, not just banks -- are expected to, among other reforms:

• Restrict lenders from penalizing high-risk borrowers who pay off loans early.
• Bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower's income.
• Require lenders to make sure that borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.

'Front end' / 'back end' ratios deemed key

Economist Peter Dawson told BloggingStocks he's taking "a wait-and-see approach" regarding the Fed's mortgage regulation revisions. "This set of revised regulations could be, arguably, the most important federal regulation change, in financial terms, since the last plan to maintain the solvency of the Social Security trust fund," Dawson said.

Yesterday I received a great comment from long-time reader Dr. Michael Schneider of barrelomoney.com. He wrote:

Every market has buyers and sellers-- so far it seems the remedies for the housing mess have been directed at helping the banks and homeowners (sellers) and, rightly or wrongly, propping up housing prices. This has the effect of helping those who created the mess or who profited from it while possibly hurting potential buyers-- including 1st time home-buyers who may have to pay higher prices for homes that may still be overpriced.

This may seem like fairly obvious point but it has profound ramifications: it's been completely missed by the people who are supposedly working to solve these problems. Propping up home prices delays the inevitable reversion to something resembling intrinsic value, and prices first time home buyers out of the market.

This was one of the effects of the subprime bubble as well: lax lending prices that made homes available to people with brand new SUVs and double-digit FICO scores made it difficult for people who wanted to do it the right way: work hard, save money, and make a 20% down payment on an affordable home with a 30-year fixed mortgage.

When you think about it like that, you have to wonder why there is so much resistance by supposedly reasonable politicians to just letting the darn prices come back down to earth: it's a zero-sum game, and lower home prices will help just as many people as they hurt.

Charging the rent to your credit card sounds insane -- it seems like it would be the eighth deadly sin, tied with going to a payday lender to get gambling money.

But as the New York Times points out, the strategy can be great if you're in good financial shape: If you pay off the balance each month you pay no interest, and you can rack up rewards on your credit card -- possibly round-trip airfare anywhere in the country each year if you have high rent!

But there are some pitfalls: Because of the way FICO scores are calculated, drawing down a large percentage of your available credit, even if you pay it off each month, can hurt your score. So if paying your rent by credit would leave you with little additional credit available, it might be a bad idea -- something that you cost you thousands on your mortgage when you do buy your own home.

The Times also points out, somewhat obviously, that if you can't afford to pay off your rent in cash each month, you shouldn't put it on your card. But if you can't afford to pay your rent out of your monthly income, that's a whole other problem...