MBA Newslinks Archive

“These gains are consistent with solid consumer spending and housing/construction improvements in the second half of 2016.”
–John Silvia, chief economist with Wells Fargo Securities, Charlotte, N.C., on Friday’s jobs report.

“People used to consider paying off their mortgage as the top priority when managing their debt. However, credit cards are increasingly being thought of as the new top priority and because of this, over-purchased consumers are more willing to walk away from their house now than they were in previous years.”–Mark Damon, senior vice president of AutoPilot services with SWBC, San Antonio, Texas.

“The increase in credit availability in September was driven by more investors offering streamlined refinance programs to borrowers with USDA and FHA loans.” –MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher.

“We made a decision to make sure that industry action would be one of the cornerstones of what we did as a company. And we really believe that an active, informed employee partner is simply a better employee partner, and that’s held true over the past 15 years.”–Former MBA Chairman Bill Cosgrove, CMB, President & CEO of Union Home Mortgage, Strongsville, Ohio, in an MBANow video promoting involvement in the MBA Mortgage Action Alliance.

“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.