Loan Think

By now you've heard about the recent fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay, birds dying in Arkansas and Kentucky, and crab corpses washing up on beaches in England. These random events are fanning the flames of religious fanatics who think the 'Big Guy' (and I don't mean Clarence Clemons) is on the way very soon (and it's not even 2012.) Of course, if the world will end soon the obvious thought for consumers is this: why keep paying the mortgage?

First, let's state the obvious: few inside the private sector really know what's going to be in the White House's master plan to revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is really a plan to reshape all of housing finance in America because let's face it: Fannie and Freddie buy/guarantee 70% of every home mortgage in America.

Last week we spoke about creating opportunities for business. But there is a whole other side to having lost a deal being good news: There are just some clients that you should not work with.

We can't yet tell you the name of the trade group that wants to sue the Federal Reserve over its loan officer compensation rule, but if a lawsuit is filed, it will happen this month. The LO compensation rule goes into effect April 1 and it's unclear exactly what it will mean for the nation's remaining 5,000 loan brokerage firms.

Most of the nation is familiar with the major snowstorm that did something very rare—practically shut down New York City. So when I was not outside shoveling show, I had the opportunity to watch plenty of television, and I saw one particularly bad piece of advertising that mortgage marketers should never emulate.

At the 2010 Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention I attended in Atlanta, some saw an attitude in the participants that had been absent in the past few years—confidence about the industry’s future.

On Friday the government will release its new employment numbers for December and we'll see first hand if all this glowing economic optimism we've been hearing about is for real. Meanwhile the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has fallen to a less frightful level (3.3%) and mortgage bankers are hoping (now cross your fingers) that come spring consumers will step up their home buying.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has now proposed a requirement that NONBANK RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LENDERS AND ORIGINATORS, LIKE OTHER TYPES OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, ESTABLISH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROGRAMS AND COMPLY WITH SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS REGULATIONS.

Who is your competitor? There are three types of competitors (in the mortgage industry)—those within your company because you compare yourself to dollar amounts and closed deals.

Now before you start going ahead and thinking we are crazy let me explain a few things that are critical to your success.First – This deal was referred to us by another loan officer.