Mortgage Action Alliance Asks Members to Share Shutdown Stories

Since the federal government shutdown began on Dec. 22, the Mortgage Bankers Association has worked with the Trump Administration and Congress to minimize its impact on mortgage lenders, servicers and customers. Now, MBA is asking its membership for anecdotal evidence to support its continued efforts.

The Mortgage Action Alliance, the MBA grassroots advocacy arm, yesterday asked its members to share stories of how the shutdown is affecting their business. MBA Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs Bill Killmer said these stories will enable MBA to continue to pressure the Administration and Congress to negotiate a long-term solution.

“Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate want to hear how the shutdown is impacting different sectors of the economy,” Killmer said.

Since the shutdown began, MBA advocacy has succeeded in persuading the Administration to reopen both the National Flood Insurance Program to process flood claims and the IRS Income Verification Express Service to enable mortgage applications to proceed. However, MBA noted “there may be other areas of friction in the housing market.”

MBA asks MAA members to use a link (https://action.mba.org/mba/app/share-your-story?1&engagementId=495204&_zs=rPPPA1&_zl=0cFq4) to explain how the shutdown has impacted their business, customers (additional costs, unable to close, etc.) or ability to reach federal agencies for clarification. MBA Legislative and Policy staff will collect these data to urge policymakers and the Administration to negotiate a long-term solution.