MBA Mortgage Action Alliance Issues ‘Call to Action’ on G-Fees Bill

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s grassroots advocacy arm, the Mortgage Action Alliance, issued a “Call to Action” yesterday urging its members to contact their House representative in support of a bill that would prohibit Congress from using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees as a source of funding for non-housing related spending.

H.R. 5055, the Homebuyer Protection Act of 2019 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5055), is a House companion bill to S. 1463. Introduced by Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., the bill would prohibit Congress from using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac g-fees increases as sources of funding for non-housing related spending–a situation that has arisen several times over the past decade.

“As you know, g-fees are a critical risk management tool used by the GSEs to protect against losses from loans that default,” said MBA Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs Bill Killmer. “Any increase in these fees makes loans more expensive and raises costs for borrowers.”

In 2011, Congress increased g-fees for a decade to pay for a payroll tax cut for only two months. Killmer noted that maneuver has negatively impacted homeowners and continues to do so even today. “Since then, whenever Congress has considered using g-fees to cover the cost of programs unrelated to housing, whether for deficit reduction, highway reauthorization legislation, immigration reform, or Gulf Coast restoration, industry advocates have used MAA to send direct and emphatic messages to lawmakers that homeownership cannot, and must not, be used as the nation’s piggybank.”

H.R. 5055 would prevent this from happening in the future. For more information about MAA, click https://action.mba.org/mba/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=503054&_zs=rPPPA1&_zl=ucqR5.