The Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Council of Life Insurers and nine other trade associations urged the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to change recent risk-based capital guidance on relief for COVID-19-related loan modifications.

While the falling home loan rates mean a booming business for the mortgage industry and a sign the housing market may help the U.S. economy avoid a true recession, it could also pose a challenge for those trying to process the influx of applications and requests. The digital mortgage servicing journey must focus on streamlining the process through technology and data-enabled solutions.

Nearly all companies have engaged in some form of business continuity planning. Generally, this exercise centers around developing contingency plans for maintaining normal operations in the face of a natural disaster or IT outage. However, with concerns surrounding coronavirus sending shockwaves throughout the U.S. and global economies, mortgage companies would be well advised to add pandemics to their list of events that could disrupt normal operations, as this specific type of incident poses unique challenges.

At a time when the world is dealing with COVID-19—economic, political, social, medical, personal and even spiritual—it is up to financial services organization leadership to look forward to the lasting impacts on banking and finance. Innovation breadth during times of great crisis will not be challenged, and the operating result will be a very foreign landscape to those anticipating minimal post-crisis adjustments.

MBA members are finding creative ways to support Opens Doors, including selection of Opens Doors as the beneficiary of the Mortgage 2020 conference taking place virtually on April 15 and 16.

MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, issued a statement responding to FHFA Director Mark Calabria’s comments dismissing the need at this time for a federally backed liquidity facility to assist mortgage servicers during the COVID-19 pandemic. MBA continues to advocate for the industry to help MBA members address the financing needs of their customers during the ongoing pandemic, and we will provide updates as they become available.