Loan Think

Allowing VantageScore to compete in the mainstream mortgage market may help to close the racial homeownership and financial wealth gap by increasing homeownership opportunities for underserved populations, writes the president and CEO of HomeFree-USA.

Mortgage finance stakeholders must pay careful attention to “nuts-and-bolts” which, if ignored or misunderstood, can become landmines when implementing even the most well-intended new policies or practices writes a senior advisor at the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets

Federal housing funds are targeted at building more apartments, not promoting homeownership, which is essential to building intergenerational wealth. There's an easy fix lawmakers have long ignored.

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.

The big threat to the mortgage banking community comes from any future Fed sales of mortgage-backed securities.

Down payment assistance programs allow lenders to take concrete action to promote the Mortgage Bankers Association's "Home for All" initiative. Chrane details the issues to navigate in using them.

The Secured Overnight Financing Rate is a concept in search of an actual forward market, writes Whalen.

If lenders get to choose the credit-scoring model, the Big Three credit bureaus will likely set a price for VantageScore that is super low, so low that FICO cannot compete, just as Uber decimated the taxicab industry by setting prices artificially low until the taxicabs were gone, writes an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

If put into force, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s plan will severely impact the working capital and profitability of IMBs, and reduce volumes in the industry, Whalen argues.

Lenders and servicers that take a business-as-usual approach to managing their flood portfolios may be exposed to undue risk.