Ex-NAMB Chief: Brokers Lose on HVCC and YSPs

House and Senate conferees working on the regulatory reform bill dealt a double-blow to loan brokers Thursday morning by extending HVCC appraisal ordering bans and capping yield-spread premium payments at 3%, according to one trade group official. Marc Savitt, who has been lobbying on behalf of the brokerage industry, said conferees decided against a sunset provision that would have allowed approved brokers and loan officers to order appraisals. (Under the Home Valuation Code of Conduct regulation originators cannot directly order appraisals and must use appraisal management companies.) Savitt, past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers who leads a new industry trade group, said the appraisal ordering ban was set to expire but Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., supported language maintaining it. Savitt, who runs a small brokerage operation in West Virginia, noted that the House and Senate agreed to a compromise, essentially capping yield-spread premiums at 3%, though the final language allows for certain fees and charges to be excluded from the cap. He said that, overall, the loan brokerage industry was "shafted" and is being unfairly blamed for the financial crisis. "We've been convicted and sentenced without having a trial," he said.