Lenders can expect to see a concrete milestone reached in credit scoring changes by early next year, a Mortgage Bankers Association official said at the 2025
Sasha Hewlett, associate vice president of secondary and capital markets at the MBA, said regulators are currently weighing credit score change impacts to the GSEs and loan-level price adjustments.
Hewlett compared the current credit score transitionary period to the switch
"Its a huge undertaking. [SOFR] was really a transition where they looked at every single step, every part of the process," she said. "I think if you have engagement, you avoid unintended consequences."
MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit also hinted at progress behind the scenes on eliminating the GSEs' tri-merge credit reporting requirement during his opening address at the conference.
"You now see competition being unleashed, clearly, on the score side," he said, alluding to recent moves by the credit bureaus and FICO — the former
"And with our progress with the GSEs to eliminate the need to get a tri-merge. It's not done … but we're making great headway," Broeksmit added.
He characterized the tri-merge requirement by the GSEs as an "oligopoly," pointing to rising costs for value that he said is mostly the same before price hikes in recent years.
Lenders at the conference joined calls to scrap the tri-merge requirement.
Kevin Bowen, managing director at Chase Home Lending pointed to credit and auto lenders, which typically use a single bureau. He also expressed frustration with the industry's lack of innovation since the GSEs adopted FICO in 1995, and said there's very effective ways today of estimating default probabilities.
"We should look to these other products and ask, why are we still stuck where we were three decades ago?" he said.
MBA touts effectiveness in work with policymakers
Broeksmit's comments about progress on credit reports with the GSEs came as he highlighted several legislative wins from the MBA's lobbying efforts. He said the trade group has played a role in nearly 10% of legislation passed this year. Along with major victories on
The trade group CEO described meeting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top brass last week, noting that the CFPB officials had to come down to the front desk to greet them, given the lack of staff there amid the government shutdown. He said that leadership appeared to be aligned with the MBA's calls to action, including putting
"When the bureau gets its staff back for rule-writing, not only are we on the list, our priorities are totally in sync with the leadership's priorities," said Broeksmit.
MBA leadership has also met with the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury regarding
"They say any reform will be, and I quote, 'informed, careful and calibrated,'" he said. "They also made it clear mortgage credit won't get more expensive and they're pushing costs down."
Top economic minds concerned about the economy, rates
As housing regulators were absent at the conference amid the government shutdown, top economic minds mulled larger points about economic uncertainty that could affect mortgages.
Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton and NEC director under President Obama, suggested the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage would be 40 basis points higher a year from now. He also described Trump's attack on Fed independence as a "premature alibi" situation, setting up the Fed as a scapegoat should the economy falter.
Discussing the Fed and the Treasury market, experts suggested mortgage rates
"For a lot of you in this room, and I think a lot in the real economy, the 10-year rates are not really moving," he said. "Because the government can control Fed Funds, that rate will go down, but the real rate is controlled by the market [and] is going to stay somewhere else."
