Roughly 18 representatives of the residential lending industry sat around a table this past Wednesday at the Treasury Department in Washington with various members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. According to those in attendance, the messages delivered by the CFPB were loud and clear: (*)Flat fee compensation is a done deal. Deal with it. (*)CFPB wants licensing and regulatory parity for banks and nonbanks alike. (*)If you have payments made to affiliates your life will be more complicated and difficult. (*)The CFPB doesn’t care that its mortgage compensation proposal will destroy the lending industry and hand the business over to the nation’s largest banks…
A few other notes about the meeting: no representatives from trade organizations were allowed to sit at the U-shaped table with the CFPB officials. Trade reps were relegated to the audience. Trade groups, however, were permitted to submit the names of five people who would sit at the table. CFPB chief Richard Cordray was not there in person and instead phoned it in and then departed after five or ten minutes. Another CFPB forum for large banks and wholesalers was being held down in North Carolina, Go figure…
Of course, all the sentiments you read in this blog might be exaggerated. Believe what you want. Talk to people who were there. Next week National Mortgage News will be writing more about the meeting. Maybe it will all turn out rosy in the end…
Have any more insights on the meeting? Drop me a line at:
Oh, and one another thing: mortgage bankers are being told to get ready for CFPB examinations of their shops. Here’s the good news: the big banks get audited first for mortgage compliance. Then the agency will get around to everyone else. If your firm is listed on the NMLS you will face an audit at some time in your lifetime. If you have a phone, you have a lawyer…
As for who we can blame for this potential nightmare: the list is long but starts on Wall Street and shoots out to Orange County, Calif., where mortgage geniuses the likes of Roland Arnall and others plied their trade during the go-go years and said President (George W.) Bush forced them to make loans to poor people as part of the ‘Great Ownership Society.’ For the complete list read “Chain of Blame…”
If you want to fight the power (the CFPB/Dodd-Frank) check out this petition:
MORTGAGE DATA STUFF: There are $9.1 trillion of outstanding home mortgages (servicing rights) in the U.S. Don’t believe the other general media. If you need complete channel breakdowns, top wholesalers, correspondent, servicers and much more order the Quarterly Data Report and/or MortgageStats.com. Discounts are available to National Mortgage News advertisers. For more info, email:
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Ken Ferrari recently left Carrington Mortgage Services where he served as vice president, Eastern division. One source said his job was eliminated as part of a restructuring.
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LAST WORD: Have a safe holiday weekend. Remember the fallen.
