Lending Biz Getting 'Rare' Mulligan

The housing finance business has a rare opportunity to re-invent itself, the Mortgage Bankers Association's chief operating officer believes. The question is, is the industry up to the challenge? Mortgage lenders have "lost a great deal of credibility," John Courson told a mortgage industry diversity conference meeting at Maryland's new National Harbor development just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. Consequently, he said, it "needs to take some bold, aggressive action and change some of the basics." Toward that end, the MBA has formed a "Restore the Faith" task force of 15 of its "most wild and wooly members" to come up with some new and refreshing ideas on how to move forward. "We need to put some elbow pads on," he told the Mortgage Lending Industry Strategic Markets and Diversity Conference at the Gaylord National Resort. "Everything is in the mix, everything is at play. The question is, are we willing to take the chance, are we willing to step up and take off into a new era of mortgage lending?" Mr. Courson will take over for Jonathan Kempner as president of the MBA, the group's top staff position, on Jan. 1.