Loan Think

Make a plan, define achievable goals and track your progress to maintain accountability, and you will end the year where you want to be.

To avoid alienating a consumer base increasingly expecting digital options, lenders must take the plunge and update old loan origination systems that cannot accommodate today's technology demands.

The "deceptive" in Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices includes negligence, as demonstrated by a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action.

Some housing professionals have grown reluctant to participate in the Federal Home Loan Banks' Affordable Housing Program, objecting to burdensome requirements and rules that are inconsistent with other funding sources. It's time for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make some updates.

Lenders must be proactive in their communication with customers to stay ahead of potential complaints and ward off regulatory scrutiny.

Mortgage professionals brave enough to bring mortgage fraud to light deserve the same level of protections as workers in other businesses, rather than be subjected to a patchwork of laws designed for other industries.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to exclude mortgage REITs from membership in the Federal Home Loan Banks. That would be a major setback for the entry-level borrowers who depend on mortgage REITs for sustainable home-financing options.

Allowing real estate investment trusts to bridge the capital need for affordable housing could help de-escalate a rising public funding crisis.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling that the disparate impact theory of liability can be applied to the Fair Housing Act means mortgage lenders must be even more vigilant in their ongoing testing and evaluation of business practices that could be interpreted as even unintentional discrimination.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's reach beyond RESPA's statute of limitations and subjective lens on marketing agreements taps into industry fears of retroactive punishment.