Mike D'Alonzo last week officially stepped down as president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, saying he wants to spend more time running his Pennsylvania-based brokerage firm.
“It was a tough decision,” D'Alonzo told National Mortgage News, “but it's been a full-time job working through a fire storm.”
The Pennsylvania broker took over as president of the small trade group about a year ago, replacing the ailing Bill Howe. D'Alonzo's term was set to expire in June of 2012.
NAMB's board named Donald Frommeyer, president of Amtrust Mortgage Funding, Carmel, Ind., to replace him.
D'Alonzo said he received no compensation for the post, a position that once paid $10,000 a month. “Right now the compensation is zero,” he said.
The cash-strapped NAMB has a small staff of less than five and no longer rents office space, referring to itself as a “virtual” trade group. D'Alonzo noted that NAMB's “financial house is now in order.”
Over the past three years loan brokers have lost a considerable amount of market share as new regulations have made it more expensive to operate and compete against both banks and nonbanks alike.
D'Alonzo is president of Creative Mortgage Group Inc. This past summer CMG and D'Alonzo signed a consent order with the Pennsylvania Department of Banking to settle charges that the firm submitted FHA loans for coverage without having the proper approvals. D'Alonzo settled the matter without admitting wrongdoing and by paying a $40,000 fine.
“I believe we acted properly,” he said. “We did not admit any guilt. In the end it was easier to settle then by running up a lot of legal fees.”
