Ассоциация ипотечных банкиров (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit took the stage at the trade group’s IMB26 Conference in Florida to say that its members and he himself have “just been gaslit by the trade association that represents the credit bureaus.”
The MBA has proposed that lenders submit a single-bureau credit pull for loans sold to government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Фанни Мэй и Фредди Мак when credit scores are 700 and above. The Ассоциация индустрии потребительских данных (CDIA) opposes the move.
Broeksmit said the CDIA “has the audacity to claim” that the proposal protects “lenders’ profits,’” and that “’we shouldn’t put taxpayers at risk just to save mortgage companies a few dollars on their bottom line.’”
A spokesperson for the CDIA wrote to ЖильеПроволока that the trade group “stands by our position that tri-merge promotes data accuracy, market competition and investor confidence.”
According to Broeksmit, those criticisms are coming from “the bureaus that profit handsomely from a privileged market position that shields them from competition” and that operate in a “government-granted oligopoly.”
Broeksmit added that Fannie and Freddie produce loans with pristine credit quality, citing recent public reports showing an average credit score of 757, with 75% of loans carrying scores above 740 and only 6% below 680.
“From a risk management perspective, continuing to require three in-files and three scores on every borrower has long been an anachronism,” he said. “Our proposal for a single in-file guards against excessive risk-taking by setting a 700 credit score floor and permitting lenders to pull two or three reports and scores at their option.”
According to the CDIA spokesperson, “Bob’s outburts aside – the data supports our position. Studies have shown there can be as much as a 25-30 point variance between a borrowers high and low credit scores – which can result in a significant increase in costs for consumers.”
The Кредиторы общественного жилья Америки (CHLA) has also pushed back against the MBA’s proposal, releasing a white paper in mid-January that argues that the three main credit bureaus rely on materially different datasets.
Broeksmit noted in his speech that the bureaus do not interact with consumers at the point of sale, adding that if CDIA or the credit bureaus “ever want to have a serious and constructive dialogue, count me in.” He said the two sides do agree on one point: that increased competition in the credit scoring space would be a positive development—“even though the entity that would provide that competition is, wait for it, owned by the three bureaus.”
Другие предложения
A single-bureau credit pull is one of several proposals from the MBA aimed at addressing housing affordability. Others include a reduction in Федеральное жилищное управление (FHA) mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) and changes to loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs), with a focus on middle-income homebuyers, primary residence purchases, and rate-and-term refinances.
These topics, absent from President Donald Trump’s speech in Davos, are expected to surface in his State of the Union address on Feb. 24.
On Trump’s executive order to restrict large institutional investors from competing with individual homebuyers, Broeksmit noted that only about 3% of houses are owned by institutional investors, if defined as entities owning 1,000 or more properties.
“We understand that the issue is more acute in certain markets, like Nashville and Atlanta, so clearly there is a political reason to address this issue,” Broeksmit said. “But it’s not going to do anything to make the next first-time homebuyer’s loan transaction cheaper.”
According to Broeksmit, ideas the MBA hopes will be shelved include 50-year mortgages and portable mortgages, as the industry seeks to “unlock the lock-in effect.”
The MBA also believes the idea of allowing penalty-free use of 401(k) funds for down payments is worth exploring, since the concept would not involve borrowing from retirement plans but rather converting 401(k) assets into real estate equity.
“If you look at the down payment, which is your real investment in real estate, and then you look at the appreciation you get on the full price of the house, your returns on real estate over time are pretty darn good,” Broeksmit said. “So we kind of hope this is not a dead letter, but the president did put some cold water on it on the plane back from Davos.”
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