Scott Olson
Executive DirectorScott Olson is executive director of the Community Home Lenders of America.
Scott Olson is executive director of the Community Home Lenders of America.
The way the Federal Housing Administration is funded and constrained by laws, rules and other operational limitations is analogous to the FHA living in the horse-and-buggy era in an age when we are starting to see driverless cars, writes the executive director of the Community Home Lenders Association.
Moving towards bank-like capital standards for all independent mortgage banks that sell loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could limit consumer access to mortgage credit, writes Community Home Lenders Association executive director Scott Olson.
Monday’s release of FHA’s annual financial report has renewed calls to end its Life of Loan policy and cut annual premiums back down to pre-crisis levels, the executive director of the Community Home Lenders Association writes.
The government is cushioning the impact of the coronavirus on consumers, but independent mortgage bankers need funding to deal with increased levels of servicing advances because of forbearances.
Ginnie Mae should not overreact in supervising smaller, more diversified mortgage bankers, but rather scale its approach in line with the concentration of risk that different-sized servicers pose.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in part to ensure that nonbanks are subject to federal oversight, but the fact is that 99% of banks are exempt from CFPB supervision.
Congressional action to reform housing finance is ultimately needed, but we must confront the risk of continued drift and inaction if Congress is unable to act.
The president-elect faces major questions about credit access, affordable housing, the future of Dodd-Frank and the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the extent to which he will act upon them remains unclear.
Restoring consumer confidence in financial services won't be easy after the latest banking brouhaha, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can help by proactively holding all mortgage loan officers to the same federal licensing standard.
Recent legislative proposals to make piecemeal changes to the government-sponsored enterprises could set broader GSE reform on the wrong path.