Statement of MBA Chair-Elect Owen Lee on VA Home Lending Before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Owen Lee, 2026 MBA Chair-Elect and CEO at Success Mortgage Partners, Inc., testified Thursday at a legislative hearing before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
Hearing details can be found here. Lee’s written statement is available here.
Owen Lee’s prepared oral statement:
Chairman Van Orden, Ranking Member Pappas, and members of this Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association. My name is Owen Lee. I serve as MBA’s 2026 Chair-Elect and Chief Executive Officer of Success Mortgage Partners. I have more than 30 years of experience in residential real estate finance as an independent mortgage banker.
I founded Success Mortgage Partners, headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, in 2002. Our firm originates mortgages in 43 states and the District of Columbia, closing billions of dollars in loans every year.
Today, SMP is a top 100 VA lender. Since 2020, we have closed between $100 and $220 million dollars in VA loans each year. And I am proud that over the last six years, SMP has helped more than 3,100 veteran families secure the dream of homeownership.
Many of those VA loan closings have been memorable – especially one very close to me. It involved my cousin, retired Sgt. First Class Damien Siwik. Sgt. Siwik is a 22-year Army veteran and a recipient of the rarely received Soldier’s Medal, one of the highest honors a soldier can receive for an act of valor in a non-combat situation. During his Army service, he completed multiple tours of duty on the DMZ in Korea, and then Honduras, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He retired from the Army nearly ten years ago.
As a soldier, my cousin never lived in a singular posting for more than three years. This made the achievement of homeownership quite difficult. Sgt. Siwik was also judged 70% disabled after his discharge due to circumstances directly related to his service. It was with immense pride that on January 17, 2025, I helped my cousin become a homeowner for the first time at age 58.
MBA is honored to have a productive working relationship with the full House Veterans’ Affairs Committee – and this subcommittee – including with your highly professional staff. I want to highlight a few of MBA’s recommendations to strengthen and improve the VA home loan program. More details can be found in my written testimony.
I appreciate the full committee passing H.R. 1815, the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act, which last year created a practical and permanent partial claim program aligning with existing programs across other federal housing agencies. This law ensures veterans are not left behind during moments of financial stress. MBA commends the VA for their transparent and open “drafting table” process to implement the new partial claim authority, but would encourage the agency to improve their draft “waterfall” proposal in the following ways:
• A borrower should not have to agree to a monthly payment increase before receiving other home retention options that do not result in a payment increase; and,
• It is also important for the policy to explicitly allow servicers the option to offer regular forbearance, so a veteran homeowner does not have to commit to a repayment option before their hardship has ended.
Beyond the partial claims’ implementation, MBA would also encourage the VA to make certain other programmatic changes, among a list included in my written statement:
• Align minimum property requirements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;
• Reform the “IRRRL” program, to improve its effectiveness and ensure it reflects today’s mortgage market;
• Modernize the allowable fee schedule structure that VA mortgage servicers can charge to process assumable loans; and,
• Align the agency’s fee documentation requirements with how third-party services are actually billed and documented.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that MBA stands by its traditional position that the use of any revenue generated by VA Home Loan funding fees should only be used for the benefit of VA’s home loan program itself.
In closing, I thank the Committee for its time and attention on ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies within this vital program, ensuring it better serves veteran families as they pursue their slice of the American dream. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
