MBA Newslinks Archive

“Over the past several years the industry has done a really excellent job of improving loan quality.”–Stephen Spies, CMB, vice president of loan quality with Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C.

“We’re in a market that has great fundamentals. Interest rates remain low; GDP growth is good; unemployment rates remain low and the housing market is picking up, but challenges remain. The housing market could be better, private capital continues to play an outside role and compliance takes up a great deal of lenders’ efforts…the system is clearly still out of balance, and we have a lot of untangling ahead.”–Pete Mills, MBA senior vice president of residential policy and member engagement.

“On one hand the government tells us not to lend outside a very prescriptive box,” he said. “On the other hand, lenders are chastised for being too selective. This regulatory confusion significantly increases litigation risk. Through your risk management efforts, you balance these mandates, which are crucial to the health and longevity of our businesses and our industry.”–MBA Vice Chair J. David Motley, CMB.

“t’s not just a matter of having communications here or there that can be transcribed into Spanish. It is a full-on effort to provide bilingual single-points of contact for the Hispanic book of business. Servicers can set up dedicated Hispanic loss mitigation and call center personnel supporting these single points of contact. Lenders can hire underwriters and quality control personnel who are fluent in Spanish.”–Deborah Garcia-Gratacos, President and founder of DEVAL, Irving, Texas.

“Purchase application volume continues to show 2016 as a strong year, with application volume more than 10 percent ahead of last year at this time. Average purchase loan size increased again, indicating that the strength is at the higher end of the market.”–MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

“U.S. mortgage rates have remained low due to the paradoxical impact of international economic instability, as investors flee to the relative safe-haven of the 10-year Treasury note, amongst other U.S. bonds, which, in turn, boosts affordability for U.S. home buyers.”–Mark Fleming, chief economist with First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.

“MBA’s task force recognizes that the industry, borrowers and investors need a successor to HAMP that is consistent and can be widely scaled. Application of the Task Force’s principles and the ‘One Modification’ or ‘One Mod’ will go a long way towards offering deep payment relief for struggling homeowners and a positive economic outcome for investors.”
–Pete Mills, Senior Vice President of Residential Policy and Member Services with the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“After three straight quarterly declines in productivity, potential growth is lower–a reality that is reflected in the Fed’s own diminished forecast for longer run GDP growth.”
–Tim Quinlan, economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C.

“Markets continue to be confused by the divergent messages being sent by different Fed voices, and perhaps as a result, longer term rates were little changed immediately following the FOMC announcement. In the press conference following the announcement, Chair Yellen emphasized that the still low level of inflation was the primary reason that the Fed chose to keep rates unchanged at this point. She also said explicitly that she expects a rate hike this year.”–MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

“While the processes behind generating property values are very similar and the valuation reports for both evaluations and appraisals look fairly identical, there are distinct circumstances when lenders should consider doing one over the other.”–Audrey Clearwater, vice president of operations with LRES, Orange, Calif.