Servicing Newslinks Archive

“MBA welcomes the release of Chairman [Mike] Crapo’s principles for housing finance reform as a significant sign of his continued commitment to work toward finally ending the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ensuring a stable and liquid market–with an explicit, paid-for government guarantee–for both single-family and multifamily mortgages. MBA looks forward to continuing to engage on a bipartisan basis with congressional leaders, the administration and other key stakeholders on reform efforts to create a system that supports borrowers, serves lenders of all sizes and business models and protects taxpayers.”–MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB.

“Our ongoing efforts on LIBOR transition involve active engagement with interested members, including commercial real estate finance firms and other market participants. Although the expected LIBOR transition is still a few years away, it’s important that market participants begin considering the items presented in the primer. We are grateful to the members on MBA’s Commercial/Multifamily LIBOR Outreach Committee as the industry prepares for what’s next.”–Thomas Kim, MBA Senior Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Finance, on an MBA Primer on changes to LIBOR.

“We are proud to have achieved these positive results for consumers, and we will continue to advocate for sensible steps to keep home financing broadly available to all qualified Americans.”–MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB.

“The Bureau is committed to the financial well-being of America’s service members. This commitment includes ensuring that lenders subject to our jurisdiction comply with the Military Lending Act so our service members and their families are provided with the protections of that law. That’s why I have asked Congress to explicitly grant the Bureau authority to conduct examinations specifically intended to review compliance with the MLA. The requested authority would complement the work the Bureau currently does to enforce the MLA.” –Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger.

“The outlook for 2019 is certainly both cloudier and blurrier than the outlook a year ago. Housing wealth may have touched new highs this year, but home value gains don’t translate into dollars in the bank account unless homeowners opt to sell or borrow against their home and, in contrast to previous housing booms, many Americans have been more reluctant in recent years to spend against their home’s worth.”–Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas.

“Favorable commercial real estate fundamentals and strong lender demand pulled commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding to a new high. Multifamily mortgage debt continues to lead the pack, accounting for more than half of the total increase, and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA remain the key drivers of multifamily mortgage growth.”–MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

“Kathy Kraninger an intelligent, experienced administrator who has worked on a broad range of complex, high-profile issues over the course of her career. We look forward to working with her and anticipate she will continue the Bureau’s efforts to protect consumers by providing financial institutions clear and understandable regulations accompanied by appropriate compliance and implementation requirements.”–MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB, on Senate approval of Kathy Kraninger as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“Profitability continues to be hindered by high costs and low productivity. We expect fixed costs to remain elevated and competitive pressures will continue to hamper production revenues in the winter months. Therefore, mortgage banker profitability will likely remain challenged.”–MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh.

“MBA believes that the requirements of the CECL standard, which is effective for SEC registrants in 2020, and for all other companies in 2021, will adversely impact the availability, structure and price of credit, with a larger proportion of such impact landing on longer-term loans, such as 30-year single-family residential mortgages, commercial and multifamily mortgages, student and business loans.”–MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to delay a credit loss accounting standard implementation pending a quantitative impact study.

“Reverse mortgages are an important financial tool that, if used properly, can allow the growing number of retirees to age in place. MBA applauds the recent steps FHA has taken to stabilize and improve the HECM program, and policymakers should continue considering ways to insulate the forward program from the volatility in the reverse program.”–MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit, CMB, on the FHA 2018 actuarial report.